Scouting Mission
by ElenaPadmeAmidala
Summary: Carol has the time of her life as a test pilot for Dr Lawson. She feels like she has finally found a home with her best friend and her new family, but she can't help but wonders what might lurk beyond the horizon. Unknown to her or anybody else a certain Kree Duo is scouting for Mar-Vell and her energy source on C-53.
1. Chapter 1

"Why would Mar-Vell choose C-53 for her research, Commander?" Min-Erva asked Yon-Rogg. "Their technology is barely existent. Some parts of their planet seem to have no technology at all."

"Unfortunately, most of her file is redacted, but she is known to be an excellent Starforce Scientist working on a unique energy project that could help us win the war."

"Then why did she choose this planet. An energy project like this secret should be done on Hala. Otherwise, the Skrulls might get privy to that."

"I agree" he nodded seriously, "but the files indicate that the source she is working with might be too volatile to work with on Hala. But as Mar-Vell's updates have become too scarce of late, the Supreme Intelligence believes that she might have been compromised. If that is the case, then we are ordered to report back and wait for further instructions. Right now, we have to shadow Mar-Vell, find out how she interacts with the locals, what exactly she is working on, what and where her energy source is and if she has been compromised."

"Understood, commander." she nodded without hesitation.

"We'll take turns and you might need to take an inhibitor in order to hide your blue skin." He suggested and Minn-Erva frowned in annoyance, but she didn't visibly protest. She didn't need to, her eyes gave her away.

He hadn't told his favourite Starforce member that this mission could take months, but as he had wanted to escape his father's insistence to take part in the annual gathering of his family, he had volunteered to take this mission.

His father's insistence to finally decide on a bride was something that he couldn't hear anymore. He was the only pink-family member and his father resented him for it. As if it was his fault that he was born like this. The man had made his life far more difficult then it could have been, and he resented him for it. His siblings had been able to grow up in the family home while he had been cast out from it until he had started to prove himself and worked himself up from the lower levels of Hala. Only when his father had heard about his forgotten son's success had he allowed him back to the family home on occasion.

Now, thanks to the Supreme Intelligence's grace he was allowed to prove his worth and serve his people. There was no greater honour and his father might be a powerful Kree official, but he would never know the honour of serving the Kree. Yon-Rogg shook his head. He should prepare for his scouting mission. He had a feeling that this could be interesting.

* * *

Carol and Maria just entered their house together with wide grins. They were exhausted but in a good way. Today's test flights had been challenging, but also rewarding.

"You had a call, Auntie Carol!" Monica chirped when she came rushing down the stairs followed by her exasperated grandmother. Monica was an extremely active child.

"Really, Captain Trouble?" she asked waiting for her turn to be hugged by the little whirlwind.

"Mh." She hugged her. "He said his name was Joseph Danvers Jr." she whispered into her ear and Carol tensed.

"And he expects me to call back, right?"

Monica nodded and Carol nodded a thank you. "Well, he can wait until the cows get home. There is no chance of me calling back, but thanks, Monica."

"Perhaps just a short phone call." Maria's mother suggested. She loved mediating between quarrelling parties, but Carol shook her head. She was good at it.

"No, Martha. I know the outcome of that conversation already. He wants to invite me to some child's baptism where I'm confronted with the entire congregation which blames me for not conforming to my father's rules. That will continue with me being blamed for bringing unrest into my family and the extended family and the entire congregation. And I'm so sick of it all. They are not my family anymore."

"Well, you're right. He wanted you to invite you to his son's baptism." Martha told her patting her on the shoulder nodding in the direction of the kitchen from where the smell promising a delicious meal wafted from. Carol frowned thinking about yet another relative being born into that family.

"So, we are your new family, right aunty Carol?" Monica asked with a wide grin plastered on her face.

"That's right, Monica. You are my new family. You are bright, warm, intelligent and absolutely awesome."

"I always like to hear that we are awesome." Maria's father cut in when they entered the kitchen, because when I look around this room then I see love, friendship, talent, respect and resilience. You two proved that you can achieve anything once you set your minds to it. Now, tuck in."

"Well, l learned from the best, dad." Maria said tucking in.

Carol moaned in delight. The meal was indeed delicious. Maria really was blessed with her parents who had supported her all the way. They did treat each other as equals, which was still extremely rare but she never got tired of seeing them tease each other.

"You've outdone yourself again. Dad." Maria praised him. "That's wonderful."

"Well, I knew that he was a keeper when I found out that he could cook." Martha remarked. Carol grinned. She already knew the story. Maria's father had fallen in love with Martha and courted her and her family with his cooking skills.

"Mark my words, one day even other men will see as well that women should be equal in every way." Her father said optimistically. "I've seen it before, and we will see it again. Things are slowly changing for the better."

"I do like the sound of that." Carol nodded gulping back bad memories from her own family.

Her father a staunchly religious man had always cited the Bible first in order to justify his misogyny:

_"This is the one true hierarchy that our god wants: Our god empowers, guides and instructs the husband, the patriarch of the family. He protects, provides for the family and keeps them in order. His Christian wife follows his lead and instructs and nurtures the children in the righteous way. She manages the household."_

Her brothers had been allowed to do whatever they had wanted, and she had to help her mother in the household with hardly any free time. She had despised this injustice. She had always been forced to look presentable, never had been allowed to wear jeans or trousers as this would have been deemed inappropriate. When her father had found books in her room that he hadn't approved off she had received severe beatings and she had been forced to endure personal sessions with their elders where she had to confess her deepest, darkest sins. Well, she hadn't had any sins that the old wanker had insinuated or had been fixated on. And reading tons of books that her father, the members of the church hadn't approved of had widened her horizon significantly. Thanks to the intervention of her primary school teacher she had been allowed to go to the local high school where she had been exposed to more secular topics which had gradually helped her to get out of the fangs of her family.

Her two elder brothers had gone to Europe for their missions but had returned disfranchised when they hadn't been able to turn even one individual towards their church.

"Europeans, don't want to hear God's gospels." They had recounted countless times and she had bit her tongue to not enrage her father with a potentially blasphemous remark.

It had been expected of her as well to go, but while her brothers had spent their entire savings for their missions, she had used it to buy an old car and stored her documents there until the day of her high school graduation where she left her old life behind forever and never looked back since.

The day of her graduation she had officially left her church and driven off towards the US Air Force Flight school after having received the results from her entry test. She was her own person now and she couldn't go back to that horrid life she grew up her family had fought hard to force her to come home. Even as going so far as to file a missing people report which had caused a police detective to turn up at her flight school. That could have gotten her expelled. But she had been able to show him the copy of her letter that she had left behind at her families home.

"Earth to Carol? Are you in there?" she heard from her side and shook her head to clear it.

"She's in here alright." She answered. "Sorry, was a bit distracted."

"So, do you?" Monica asked impatiently.

"Do I what?" she blinked in confusion.

"Do you believe that there is life out there in the universe?" Monica inquired curiously. "Mum said that Dr. Lawson believes there might be."

"Well, I agree with Dr. Lawson." Carol stated with a lopsided grin. "The Universe is big and grows with each day. So, even though we might not know, or even get in contact with aliens, it is possible that they exist."

_At least it is far more possible than the cruel fairy tale creature my old family believes in. _


	2. Chapter 2

„Any change of Mar-Vell's location?" Yon-Rogg's voice came through her com.

"Negative. Still sitting in that corner sipping some local beverage." Min-Erva answered him evenly trying to keep her annoyance out of her voice. They've been here for almost two weeks observing their target. But so far there was nothing suspicious about her behaviour besides being a bit too friendly with the locals. Their energy readings in the Helion suggested that the energy source she was working with was in that military facility somewhere underground, but they had to begrudgedly admit that the security was tight. They hadn't expected that. But it was still primitive and with proper planning they might be able to find a way into the facility. She mentally sighed. This wasn't a job for Star Force members. The Kree sleepers on C-53 could have easily done this on their own. Why had the Commander taken this job? It was so unlike him to break his routine and decide to take an operation on a whim that was way beneath their level of commission. This decision could even become problematic. Other Kree Commanders where coveting his place and still were a bit bitter that a pink skinned Kree had worked himself up to his position. What had he been thinking?

Something rattled besides her in the few turfs of grass in between the rocks, but she ignored it. Just some local serpent slithering past her. For some reason Mar-Vell seemed to come to this Terran Bar once a week and sit in a corner that made it impossible to get to see her from outside. Yon-Rogg had secretly sent two small drones in, which delivered the footage now. The scientist definitely knew how to protect herself. From her corner she could survey the entire bar where a few people were drinking their local beverages. One had fallen asleep at the bar. A group of bearded men, which had played some sort of game with balls and sticks on a table earlier made their way towards their vehicles. Yon-Rogg had suspected that she might have scheduled a meeting with somebody, but she just was sitting in that corner, scribbling things into a notebook and sipping some steaming beverage. The voluptuous matron of that bar had brought her some piece of food 'on the house' earlier that Mar-Vell seemed to take her time to devour. Her face definitely portrayed her joy.

Hold on! What was that? A person was running up the street with steady rhythm. Now that was interesting. Min-Erva scoffed. It was one of the local girls Mar-Vell seemed to have taken a shining to. They had already noted that this girl seemed to have a severe obsession with jogging. This discipline seemed to be favoured by the Military of C-53, but not to that extend. But exercising in the middle of the night was really pushing it.

"Commander, One of the pilots just entered the bar." Min-Erva informed him.

* * *

Carol breathlessly entered the Bar and greeted the matron shortly who laughed good-heartedly at her. "Some people are going to bed at this time and you are working out?" she shook her head and chuckled again.

"Well, a good work out helps me sleep better at night, Aunt Z." She shrugged innocently. "And I was wondering if I could use your public phone in the restroom?

Aunt Z narrowed her eyes at Carol. "You are up to something, sweety. I can see it in your eyes."

She shrugged again but her demeanour was far too innocent for her liking. "Nope, just returning my elder brother's call."

"It's almost midnight, Danvers." The matron reminded her, but she shrugged a third time and wiggled her eyebrows. "I know, and it will be almost three in the morning at his home."

"Well, he probably will ignore your call." Aunt Z. "if it is really almost three in the morning where he lives." She sighed and shook her head. "If you must, then go ahead, but…" she rose her right index finger. "If anything comes back to my bar, you will be banned from here for the whole next year."

Carol grinned at her. She knew the matron was a tough cookie. "Thanks, Aunt Z." and rushed towards the back, too preoccupied on how she should conduct her call, to see her favourite scientist sitting in the corner. But she surely did spot her.

There it was hanging in front of the restroom. It was simple. Call her brother's home until he would pick up. It was most likely his docile wife that would pick up first with having a small baby that probably still didn't sleep through, then she would tell him that she was returning his call, then she would congratulating him for his son's baptism and she would tell him to never call her number again if it wasn't an emergency. No, that was probably too unprecise. Her definition of emergency differed greatly from her family's. She took the receiver into her hands. She just needed to put in her coins into the slot and dial the number. Carol placed it back onto the hook. Turned around. Back towards the phone. She hated this!

Her family shouldn't have such a hold onto her. She left that life behind. Her pulse was accelerating every time she had to deal with some attempt to lure her back. This prank had sounded much better in her mind when she had tried to get to sleep. Carol leaned against the warm wooden wall closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could do this. She was her own person. She had to let go. _Breath in, breath out_. She was Carol Danvers. Air Force Pilot. She had graduated at top of class from high school and enlisted in the US Airforce at age eighteen. Again, against all odds she and Maria had shared the honour of being top of their class. Due to Dr. Lawson's encouragement or rather insistence they now also worked towards a BA in physics. So, she had nothing to be ashamed of. That's right. She could do this. After a third deep breath she straightened her shoulders and turned back towards the phone and dialled the number that was forever ingrained in her mind.

She waited tensely. It was ringing. … Still ringing. No, she wouldn't put the receiver down. After what felt like an eternity. She could hear that somebody picked up the receiver at the other hand.

"Danvers home, Betsy speaking." Came the tired voice of her sister-at-law from the other end. Carol felt almost bad for waking her.

"This is Detective Scherz calling for Joseph Danvers Jr." she said in a strict voice. "There has been an incident and we need his full cooperation. Please put him on the phone, Ma'am."

"What incident?" her sister-in-law squeaked in panic. Carol bit her lips. This hadn't been planned, but it seemed like a last-minute stroke of genius.

"I'm not at a liberty to tell you ma'am. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask your husband. Now, please put him on the phone."

"Ye…Yes." Came a stutter from the other side. "Joseph! Joseph. There…There…It's for you!" she could hear her scream with a high-pitched voice causing the baby, somewhere in the background to cut in.

"Tell them to call at a more decent time." She could detect her brothers gruff voice and some shuffling, which probably indicated that he was walking down the stairs.

"But it's the police." Her sister-in-law again. "Something about an incident, you've been involved with?"

"What?!" Carol sniggered silently into her hand and proceeded to add a few coins for good measure. Now he definitely sounded awake.

"Who's this and why in god's name are you calling at this untimely hour." Her brother bellowed into his receiver.

"Mr. Joseph Danvers Jr?" she enquired lowering her voice to sound a bit different.

"Yes." He hissed into the phone.

"Well, you've been accused of severe sexual harassment at your workplace and we are asking you to come in for questioning at your earliest convenience." She said confidently. If her brother was anything like her father, then this was a very likely occurrence only that most of the women wouldn't dare to press charges.

"Who the hell accused me?! Was it Lauren in Accounting? Becky from the reception?" he hollered with slightly unsteady voice and Carol had to bite her fist to stop her from snickering out. But she had to stop this before it got too far.

"I'm not at a liberty to say, Sir." She answered after taking a deep breath and let him simmer in his frustration which was clearly audible through his angry huff.

"Well, the truth is neither, brother. First you speak out your Lords name in vain and then you dare say the term hell. What would father say to that. O my, you really have fallen brother." She said mockingly dropping her charade.

"Carol?!" her brother enquired in surprise which was quickly replaced by anger. "Do you have any idea what time it is? Do you have any sense of propriety at all?!" _Yeah, propriety is all he cares about, isn't it._

"Well, you are the last person to tell me about propriety, brother. Leave the women at your workspace alone, or you'd actually could land a lawsuit." Carol spat. "I was told that I had to return your call, which I hereby did. So, congratulations for bringing yet another poor soul into your family and your soul-sucking church community." She had to get her anger back in control. All her unpleasant memories where working themselves to the forefront of her memories. This was a mistake. She shouldn't have returned the call.

"Our community." He corrected her as if speaking to a toddler.

"No, your community, Joseph. I was the only sensible person that left it for good." Carol deflected his efforts.

"Did you say, I'm the one who has fallen, Sister? No, you are the one who has been willingly led astray by the devil. You chose to not heed father's warning. A women's place is at home where she can fulfil her god given destiny."

"Yeah, like your wife, that you got pregnant out of wedlock, which forced her to marry you?" Carol shot back.

"Leave my wife out of this! We wanted to offer you a branch of peace by inviting you to my son's baptism." He responded arrogantly.

Carol growled into the receiver. "Spare me your hypocrisy. You never wanted to offer peace. Just more pressure, finger pointing and shaming. I did you the curtesy to call back, now have the decency to accept that I don't want to have anything to do with you or the rest of the family. So, stop any attempts to contact me and tell that to the rest of them. Do you hear me?"

There was silence on the other hand and Carol almost thought that he had hung up on her, but the signal didn't indicate that he had hung up on her. A speechless Joseph? That was a first.

"Did you hear me?" she repeated more forcefully this time.

He began to laugh. Carol tensed and shivered. That was not good. She just wanted to deck him where it hurt him most. Luckily for him he was at the other end of the country.

"Mh, yes, I did hear you little sister." He told her evenly with condescending humour in his voice. "But I did believe that we could use my son's baptism to bring the whole family back together again for once. And when I say the whole family. Then I also meant our little sister." He told her.

"We don't have a little sister!" she shot back fiercely, absentmindedly putting more coins into the phone. Her neck hair straightened. If it was true and they had a sister, then her father had played with her mother's health again.

"Ah, see. That's what you missed not staying in contact. Little Theresa is already six years old and we thought that you might want to meet her. Father says that she is very much like you were." He told her smugly, and Carol clenched her hands trying to quench her burning anger. Her mother had had two miscarriages after her and the doctors had specifically told her that another child would literally kill her. It seemed that her father hadn't listened. A little sister at the mercy of her father! At the mercy of her family! Her stomach churned. Chances were high that her father could do much worse to her than he had to herself. She after all had managed to escape his grasp. Knowing him she could be almost certain that he would limit the chances for her little sister. Could she really leave her alone at the mercy of her family? Perhaps she should give CPS a call. Just to make sure.

"Did mother survive? How long did she stay in hospital?" she enquired evenly, while anger and a bit of worry raged within her chest.

"Of course, she did. God is gracious." He answered her smugly.

"Oh, cut the crab with your fairy tale creature in the sky. It was modern medicine that saved her not god." Carol snapped.

"You can pretend that he doesn't exist, but even you'll find out the truth when you stand before him to be judged, dear sister. And you will be judged very harshly. So, now will you come?" he told her, and Carol rolled her eyes.

"I'm not changing my mind, just because you are dangling the carrot of a new sister in front of my eyes." She told him defensively. She would need to find a different way to help her sister. Visiting wouldn't help her. "Besides, I'm busy. I've got work to do."

"Work?!" he enquired. "What work could you possibly have? That flight schools? Father said that you'd fail. Living near a military base won't get you into the military, dear. So, it's better for you to come home."

She clenched her hand into a fist, ready to smash her hand against the wall. She wanted to correct his face, but she couldn't, and she didn't want to get banned from Aunt Z's bar. Pancho's was the only bar around that also catered to families. How dare he? How had they found out where she lived anyway? She squelched her anger, took a deep breath. He wanted her to get riled up. He wanted her to prove that she was a hysterical woman that couldn't live by herself.

"Well, brother." She spat. "You couldn't be more wrong. I'm **Captain** Carol Danvers now and I'm flying for the US Air Force. It seems that our father is lying when he claims that women have smaller brains than men. We are a force to be reckoned with and that scares the shit out of men like you and father. You better start teaching your sons some decency and respect towards women, because your days are numbered. And with that I wish you a very short night. Good night brother."

Before he could riposte, she ended the call and took a deep breath to calm herself. This had been a mistake. She needed to clear her head now. She just hoped that jogging was enough.

"That sounded like a really harsh fight over the phone." Carol jumped and turned around to see Dr Lawson leaning against the wall with her hands crossed. "Never saw you that worked up."

Brushing her hand through her hair, she took a deep steadying breath and nodded. "That's the understatement of the year. Sorry, you had to see this."

"We all have our moments, Ace. Well, if you want to talk about it, I have a table, some hot chocolate and Aunt Z's homemade Chocolate Silk Pie waiting for you and I might be a decent listener." She offered with a nod towards the table.

Carol smiled. "Well, you had me at Chocolate Silk Pie, even if it means that I will probably roll home back on all fours by then."

"I know, they are irresistible." Lawson winked and ushered Carol towards her table where Aunt Z seemed to have brought a mug full of hot chocolate and some of her Chocolate Silk pie for her. "I blame you and Maria for my newfound vice. Hadn't you introduced me to that I'd still be sipping stale coffee in my office." She sat down next her in the corner, with the edges of the wall in her back. She acted exactly like somebody who wanted to be able to survey the entire bar. Carol shrugged it off. She was a military scientist and although it was unlikely, she had to be careful.

"You are working 24/7. Nobody works more than you. But everyone knows that sometimes all it takes to achieve a breakthrough is a small break." She took a bite from her pie and exhaled in pleasure as the sweet aroma of chocolate hit her taste buds. "Mh, you know to get a new perspective on things. Seems that you took our advice."

Lawson nodded slowly. "Yeah, you were right. I certainly needed a change of scenery. NASA is ordering me to go into one direction, the Air Force into another and Stark… well, Stark he started breathing down my neck lately."

"That sounds really tough." Carol acknowledged. "NASA certainly is aiming for another scientific breakthrough to get more funds; the Air force has weapons development in mind, not that I'm complaining, I'm flying your planes after all, but I'm not really sure about Stark. That man has a reputation."

Lawson inclined her head taking another sip of her hot chocolate. "He certainly does." It looked as if she wanted to say something more, but she seemed to stop herself.

"Do you remember what I told you about our work? What it was for?" she asked after a few moments and Carol nodded. "Yeah, to end wars."

"Right." Lawson absentmindly took a second sip which Carol mimicked with hers. "My people believe that wars can only be ended from a position of strength."

There it was. One of her quirks. 'My people'. Did she mean her family or was Lawson a scientist that had become an American citizen because her brilliance had been needed? It almost sounded that way. It could also explain why Maria and she were able to surprise her with cultural things that they usually were used to.

"Well, I suppose your people aren't wrong. The victor usually dictates the outcome of a war. Be it land, or reparations. Some historians even say the rewrite history in their favour."

Lawson nodded and took a deep breath. "Yeah, that does sound like it."

"I'm also a bit sceptical about the part of ending wars." Carol admitted taking another bite. "Don't get me wrong. I'd love to hear that all wars have ended, but to be realistic. There will always be wars or weaponised conflicts as long as we are living on this planet. Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from our mistakes. And WWI was called the War to end all wars." Carol sighed. "And we know what how that turned out and what followed after."

Lawson nodded hesitantly." In my experience, the best way to stop a war is to find out which entity profits the most from continuing it."

"Entities." Carol corrected. "There are always more people who are profiting from war than just one. It's unfortunately not as clear cut as it seems."

"True. Very true." The elder woman nodded taking another sip. "I always wondered how people feel after finding out that they served at the wrong side of a war or that they've been lied to by their own government." Carol frowned at the serious expression on her mentor's face. It almost seemed regretful. But Lawson loved her work at Pegasus. She couldn't mean their government. Perhaps something from her mysterious past.

"That is one tough question." She mused. "I mean…I guess it depends on who you ask in a conflict, what it was that the government lied about, what has happened. I mean from a military perspective, there are a few things I could think about that I don't want to be known by civilians. From a humanitarian perspective I want everyone to adhere to the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, even during conflicts otherwise there will be atrocities. It is upon us to make sure that these things never happen again. Coming back to that person, I'd assume that he or she might feel betrayed, lost perhaps and then tries to make up for the things he or she has done."

A warm smile was ghosting over Lawson's face as she patted her shoulder. "See, that's what I like about you, Carol. You're so young and passionate, and yet there is wisdom in your answers."

Carol's face grew warm at Lawson's high praise. "That's very kind of you, but I wouldn't consider myself wise. Much to learn I still have."

* * *

"Is that finally prove enough that she has changed loyalties?" Min-Erva asked Yon-Rogg who analysed the recording from last night. He shook his head. "No, that is still too vague. So, far we only know that she might to have doubts about the Kree empire. Not that she is in contact with any of our enemies."

"Then why does she spend time in a Terran bar if she isn't going to meet any contact?" she inquired. "What's the point of it all?"

"She said for recreational purposes." Her commander told her with a small knowing smile. "That's what he admired about Min-Erva. She had an intrinsic drive to excellence, and she spent every moment to hone her abilities. Like every Star Force member should. Although there were recreational centres in Hala, it was frowned upon to see Star Force members frequenting those. He barely had found the time to visit those as he had worked towards his goal to get into the Star Force and now, he just continued with this routine. He couldn't slack or other Kree would stab him in the back and make sure that he'd be removed from his position.

"Perhaps, yes. But she clearly isn't loyal to the Kree any longer. She is openly wondering if she is on the right side of the war against the Skrulls." Min-Erva pointed out, but Yon-Rogg shook his head.

"No, that is what you are interpreting into it right now. We need more proof. She could also be talking about our war against Xander. But I agree that she has misgivings and it is upon us to find out how deep these worries go and if she is compromised and actually working for the enemy."

"Too me it sounded as if she didn't trust the Supreme Intelligence." Min-Erva pointed out. "She talked about an entity profiting from the war. That sounds suspicious enough for me."

He sighed. That part of the conversation had rattled him as well. He knew Min-Erva could tell. Nobody should question the supreme intelligence and he had wanted nothing more to storm in and extract Mar-Vell for even suggesting such a thing. But then he couldn't know for sure that she really meant the Supreme intelligence. So, for now he gave her the benefit of doubt. But he intended to pay better attention to her. If she actually had turned traitor, he wouldn't hesitate to take her back to Hala himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Mar-Vell was worried. Quite worried. So far, she had been able to avoid the three Kree sleeper cells on Terra and there wasn't much communication between them, but something must have happened. She had received a heavily coded message via her small Skrull wrist communicator from her cruiser that the chatter between the sleepers had intensified lately. Almost as if they were coordinating and as Mar-Vell didn't know what it was she dared not to meet with Soren at their usual rendezvous location to help her stock up and get the new modifications for the light-speed engine up to the cruiser. The last thing she needed was Talos' mate captured or killed when she had vowed to keep them safe. Of course, they could prepare an attack onto the Inhuman population on the Moon which was slowly turning into a serious threat. But, as long as the Kree sleeper cells were oblivious to her treachery, the Skrulls were safe. But that chatter could also be about her work here. After all, she had neglected to report her progress to the Supreme Intelligence.

She sighed rubbing her weary eyes. She needed to get the supplies up to the cruiser and hand the new plans for the modifications over to Soren so that they could implement it. Time was pressing and the Skrulls in the cruiser were probably getting antsy. But how? She had looked up some conferences away from the base which she could use as an excuse to secretly meet with Soren, but unfortunately, the only scheduled conference that did "fit" her research was in Boston. At the opposite side of the country, but unfortunately also in the city that contained one of the Kree sleeper cells. She was confident that Stark could probably get her into the conference at short notice, but as soon as her alias would pop up at the list, she could count on the undercover Kree spying on her as well. _Or,…_ She put her head to the side rubbing her front to nurse the pounding of her head. Or she could attend the conference and let somebody else oversee the transfer of the data. Drawing the Kree gaze away from the real action. She shook her head. No, she shouldn't do that. It would endanger her favourite Terran trio. After all, she was already way to attached to Carol, Monica and Maria. But this could potentially be the only way right now. She groaned. Years ago, she hadn't been as caring as she was now. She had done what had to be done, no matter the cost. As all Kree were conditioned to do from an early age. It had helped her to become the youngest captain in the Elite Guard during her time, which was the guard of the Kree Emperor, who basically only acted as a front for the decisions of the Supreme Intelligence and was merely a powerless puppet of that blasted AI. But that commission had helped her gain standing that not many pink-skinned Kree were allowed to achieve. How many other talented Kree were tricked into serving the SI before anyone would stop it? She knew it wasn't her. It would be a lost cause. Her priority was to get the Skrulls away from Kree influence before they were being wiped out for good. So, she had to pull herself together and think this through rationally.

She needed to get the data to Soren, who needed to stock up on supplies. The attention of the Kree sleeper cell had to be diverted, and Carol had grown up in Boston. She knew the city, and she could also fly her there. If all went well, then this could potentially be the penultimate or even last data exchange she had to perform until the light-speed engine was complete. They were so close. She stretched with her hands in the air earning a confused look from her Flerken when she could hear some of her bones crack. Her plan could work, and it could help her unsuspecting partner in crime to resolve some of her private issues or at least inspire a little girl. A win-win situation. … She hoped.

* * *

Carol had completed her pre-flight control checks before Dr Lawson settled in next to her. It wasn't the first time that she'd flown such long in-state flights for the Air Force, every fighter pilot occasionally had to perform these duties, but this time was quite different. Not just because it was in the middle of the night. She was flying the plane to her former home city. A city that she had hoped to never return to. They had received the clearance, but it didn't sit well with her that the destination of her flight hadn't been openly pre-planned with the military base near Boston. She had received a code that she had to give the towers during the landing approach to give her proper clearance. Something was off. Especially when she had received additional orders from Lawson, to be performed under the "radar". Lawson had told her that she was to meet a person at her sister's school, her old school, who'd she only recognize with a particular code phrase that she had memorised. But the strangest thing was that she had to hand over a green crystal. She had checked. There was nothing inside or on it. Just a plain green crystal. She did know that in theory data storage in crystals was something that some scientists hoped to achieve in the future, but they were aeons away from achieving that.

A "perfect" crystal provides a perfectly regular structure that repeats itself (the most famous examples being salt and diamonds). Since the structure is so regular, one could store data by altering that structure somewhat, for example putting atoms of different sizes. Alterations of the structure could theoretically be detected through X-rays refraction and interpreted as the data they represent. Of course, that also meant that (unless very advanced technology or even "magic" were available one could not use them as they would use their floppy disk drive... crystals were "read-only" data devices once built they couldn't possibly modify them. Additionally, the need to use a "perfect" crystal as the base and the need to carefully measure the alterations to its structure would mean that they couldn't "mine" it, but would have to grow it in a lab or a similar device. As far as she knew there was no such lab within the Pegasus complex. But the caverns ran deep. So, who knows what else was down there?

She contemplated. The data density in a crystal had the possibility to be much higher than common magnetic or existing optical data storage methods. This was because holographic data storage could theoretically store information in the entire volume of the crystal and could record multiple images in the same area utilizing light at different angles. The method may potentially be faster as it could be used to read the data in parallel more easily than existing methods, reading over one million bits at once, like shining a light through a photo slide, all the information coming out at once.

She shook her head. But that was only theory right now. Or was it? The crystal felt heavy in her pocket. What if they had already found a way?

Did she serve as a red herring for an operation? Did it put her little sister at risk? She didn't know her yet but putting her at risk was something that she did not like. She truly hoped that Lawson didn't do anything against the US Government as this would make her a traitor and could lose her hard-earned career. And she really loved her job.

Her feeling told her that something wasn't right, but she shrugged it off. It was also quite possible that her "feeling" was just influenced by her dread of stepping into her much too familiar surroundings again. It was also a possibility to get a glimpse of her sister and as the summer holidays were just around the corner, her former school's career day week was also a dreadful possibility and she really didn't want to run into her parents. She counted the days until the summer holidays. No, kriff. It was certainly a career day week. Her heart plummeted.

Lawson nodded at her and Carol started the take-off procedures.

"ATCO. This is FN-2187. Request taxi for departure." She spoke into her comm.

"FN-2187." The Air Traffic Control responded. "Taxi to hold point Bravo 3 Runway 27. Right via Delta. Hold short of Runway 27 Right." With a short acknowledgement, she steered the small plane according to the instructions. Luckily, she knew the outline of the airfield by heart by now. It had appeared to be a maze when she had just started out flying Lawson's planes.

"Taxi to holding position Bravo 3. Hold short Runway 27." She told the tower when she had finally lined up the plane on the runway. "Requesting clearance for departure." Her excitement grew now. She was about to be up in the air in a matter of minutes. Her worries would be left on the ground.

"Copy. FN-2187. You are cleared for departure. Startup at your discretion." the male ATCO's voice confirmed.

"Copy. Starting take-off procedure." She answered and engaged the engines. A few moments later the small plane departed from the ground and rose higher into the dark sky.

"Confirm departure FN-2187." She contacted the tower again and received a positive confirmation.

* * *

"We overlooked something," Minn-Erva told her commander shaking him awake from his short, but much-needed nap on his hard and narrow cot. He hadn't even taken off his uniform, even though sleeping in it was more than uncomfortable. Other ship types like the Helion usually had special cots for higher commanders, but Yon-Rogg had chosen to not give himself special allowances. His fate was the same as everyone else on this ship.

"What did we miss?" he enquired rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Mar-Vell is scheduled to hold a lecture in a city on the other side of this continent." She informed him of handing him the datapad. "It just popped up in their primitive system.

"Today?!" Yon-Rogg exclaimed. How had they missed this? They had thought that one of the man, Mar-Vell was working for, had given her more than enough grief to make her continue her work here. And now they found out that she was supposed to hold a lecture. "Is Mar-Vell already there?"

Minn-Erva grit her teeth and nodded. "Well, she isn't in the complex or in her apartment. So, she must have found a way to slip our watch. Several flights departed as scheduled, but I found one that has no destination listed or passengers."

"Das't" he cursed. "Then her stealth suggests that she might know that we are here." How had she found out about them? He wondered brushing his hand through his hair, but his companion only shrugged her shoulders.

"No idea. I contacted our sleeper cell closest to the scene, well the only one on this continent, and asked them to shadow her when she appears and report back on any suspicious behaviour." She informed him. Technically, she should have asked her commander for permission first, but time had been pressing and Yon-Rogg would have done the same. "Better ask forgiveness than permission." Was something he didn't have problems with when the action taken led to better results. Other commanders would reprimand her severely for this, but he would understand why she had done it.

"Good." He commented in agreement. We keep the Helion in stealth mode and follow. I want to know what spooked her."

"She was part of the Elite Guard." Minn-Erva mused. "She knows how we operate. What if she wanted us to find her scheduled lecture? What if she wants to draw our gaze away from here? We were wondering if she was expecting someone in that establishment a few days ago. What if she did and the individual didn't show up? This could be another attempt."

He sighed. Minn-Erva was right. They just couldn't follow her to that city. Someone had to stay behind and observe Mar-Vell's immediate contacts. A few scientists working under her, military personnel,...

"Which of her two pilots did she take with her?" he enquired yet already had a suspicion.

"The trouble-maker." She told him with tight lips. His companion clearly disapproving of her behaviour. Yon-Rogg had to fight his grin. The 'trouble-maker' and her 'sane' friend, as Minn-Erva had dubbed the two pilots, were capable soldiers. Well, for Terrans anyway. But they had nothing on Kree soldiers.

He caught himself. "Alright. I leave the Helion in your care, to observe Captain Rambeau. I'll take a dropship and follow Mar-Vell. Inform the Sleeper cell that I will join them shortly."

She inclined her head. "You might need to leave your uniform behind on the Helion, Commander." She reminded him. "To blend in with the Terrans."

"The agents can provide me with suitable clothing, or I guess I'll go just stark naked." He shrugged with a lopsided grin which she didn't return. Minn-Erva's face remained impassive, yet the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her amusement.

"Pretty sure our agents are alright with both." She riposted. He coughed a few times to cover his chuckle, but it didn't help.

* * *

Carol wanted to flee. Every fibre in her body told her to turn around and flee. She was out of place. Completely out of place. And her uniform didn't make it any better. This was her old school. Her high school was two blocks away, her former family's home eight blocks. Her heart was pounding mercilessly as if having a life of its own, trying to jump out of her chest. She had just entered the dark wooden portal and received a critical glance from the security guy when she passed his office. She passed several classrooms, some livelier than others. Not much had changed since then. No pictures were hanging on the grey walls. Each heavy step she took towards her sister's classroom resounded dully from the dark marble floor. What if she missed the currier, who she had to hand the crystal somehow? Now, she stopped in front of a very familiar classroom. Nothing ever changed in here. The glass in the little window in the weathered door had been renewed but apart from that not much. Another deep breath. She put her head to the side. Ok, the school even smelled the same. Did they honestly still use the same cleaning agents? After all these years?! She took a small peak through the small window into the classroom and her heart dropped. Small children, a bit older than Monica were standing in the front and recited something to the parents standing in the back. She groaned. Those faces were far too familiar. At least she didn't see her own parents among the other adults, which was a small mercy, but it was possible that they just stood in her blind spot. Her glance fell to the other side and she locked eyes with her former teacher, who had aged significantly yet her warm smile still was the same. She smiled back. Well, every cloud had a silver lining and her former teacher had been hers and was probably also her sister's. Carol observed her ushering the children back to their seats while she was clearly about to invite her in. It was now or never. Her fear didn't matter. This was for her sister. She was here to present herself in the best way possible and to show them what was possible. Fear was out of place right now. She had to remain calm and play her role. Carol squared her shoulders and clasped her hands behind her back. She was Captain Carol Danvers. Time to shine.

"That was wonderful, children. Well done! Mrs Bybee praised her class.

"And thank you to all your parents who took their time to come here and talk about their work. Thank you as well."

"Theresa's parents didn't come!" young Franklin shouted out. "Probably can't stand the sight of her" But he was swiftly silenced by his teacher. His mother didn't even flinch at her son's behaviour.

Theresa hugged herself. She hated him. He would make sure that she'd never forgotten about the fact that none of her parents had bothered to show up. She was the only one in class. The girl ducked and lowered her head. Her father had told her that he had no time for nonsense like that and her mother was doing poorly. But she wasn't supposed to tell anybody about that. Not even their pastor.

"Franklin, I want you to look Theresa in th eye and apologize to her. This was uncalled for." Mrs Bybee told him but he just stubbornly shook his head confident that there was nothing she could do with his mother sitting in the back of the class.

"Well, be as that may be." Mrs Bybee continued. "Yes, Theresa's parents didn't come. But I do have a surprise for you. I kept the best for last today. The person I'm going to invite in here used to be my best pupil and she is the elder sister of one of your classmates." An excited whisper went through the crowd. With a sly grin, she opened the door and beaconed a blond woman to enter the door.

Theresa's jaw dropped. She looked familiar but she couldn't place it. Had she met her before? In church perhaps? She could hear dark chatter around the parents sitting in the back but ignored it. It was a woman wearing a military uniform! She couldn't believe it. A woman… in a uniform. She blinked. How was that possible. The woman had kind, cheeky eyes and she was smiling at her. She was confused. No, she couldn't smile at her. She was probably smiling at Randy behind her. She checked by quickly glancing back, but Randy's focus was on his neighbour whispering about something. She turned back around, and the woman was still smiling at her. At her. Nobody smiled at her. She had her hands clasped behind her back. Her gaze now wandering confidently through the class a slightly crooked grin on her face.

"Children. This is my former student Carol Danvers." Mrs Bybee finally introduced her and Theresa's eyes bulged. But she was supposed to be dead! Now she remembered. She had found a batch of yellowed photographs in the dusty attic where she had hidden once from her father's rage. When she had shown one of the photos to her she had gasped for air and cried telling her that she should never ask about her again, because she had died. Her eldest brother had casually told her that she had died because she hadn't adhered to the laws of their Lord and Saviour. Her sister's name had only been whispered in contempt.

She gaped at her. But if she wasn't dead, then they had lied to her. But lying is a sin!

"So, what have you been up to Carol." Mrs. Bybee asked her beaming with happiness.

"Thank you for your kind introduction Mrs. Bybee." Carol nodded. "Judging from some of your flabbergasted faces in the background, I assume that you've been told that I died a gruesome death."

Some of them nodded, others sneered at her, but the children were hanging on her every word.

She unclasped her hands. "As you can see, I'm pretty spry for a walking corpse." The other children giggled. She winked at her and Theresa's heart warmed. She wasn't alone.

"Ok, back to business." Carol's expression turned serious, but there was a dangerous glint in her eyes, that told Theresa, that she wasn't that serious." She took a few casual steps back.

"Since I was very young, all I wanted was to get closer to the stars. I wanted to fly and leave all my sorrows back on the ground. Do any of you know the songs 'Free as a bird' by the Beatles or Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd?" The children shook their heads.

"Thought as much." Carol shrugged. "Marvellous songs, which are perfectly portraying the feeling of being free up there in the sky. A dream that I managed to accomplish thanks to blood, sweat and tears. In other words, really hard work." She told them ominously. Theresa made two quick notes on a sheet to look up the songs her sister had mentioned.

"So, no I haven't grown any wings myself yet, but as Mrs Bybee can confirm I worked my a… I worked hard to keep my grades up. So, when I turned eighteen, I left my life and my family behind, drove halfway across the country and enlisted into the Air Force." She paused. "And I was accepted into flight academy. Let me tell you, that this wasn't easy at all. The academy already was torture for my male counterparts, but it was even worse for my best friend and me. Additionally, to that, we were constantly told that we would never fly combat and that we should just give up. People were dropping out like flies, but we persisted. We were told that women aren't capable to fly aeroplanes. Well, Maria and I proved them wrong. We might not yet be allowed to fly combat, but we are trained, nonetheless. There's also a fun fact for you. Britain already used female pilots in the RAF during WWII. Those fierce women were an invaluable part of the supply line. Without those women, the world might look a bit different today. We are currently employed as test pilots and can fly and help in the development of new, better jets, that can make a real difference. People will tell you that you shouldn't strive for more, people love to hold you down, but I want you to know that you can achieve everything that you want, if you work hard for it." Carol panted passionately.

"And girls. Theresa." She stepped closer to her sister locking eyes with her. "Men in this area will tell you that the kitchen and the household is all that is for you and that you shouldn't strive for more. I beg you don't listen to them! If I could manage to get achieve this, then you definitely can."

* * *

Yon-Rogg was in a bad mood. The agents of the sleeper cell had given him itchy Terran clothing that was a bit too tight for his liking. His uniform usually did fit him to the nines but had been moulded to his body. But these black trousers, which the agents had called jeans were uncomfortable. His shirt had a low neckline resembling his upper body sleepwear on Hala. His black jacket seemed to draw in the head causing him to sweat more than he would have liked. But the most important thing was that his suspicion was confirmed. There had to be some sort of handoff. Mar-Vell had presented her as bait, but her pilot had never made it to the conference which had forced him and the agents to backtrack surveillance from the airport. He only trusted the agents as far as he could throw them, but this handoff had to be important. So, he wanted to see personally what this contained. He had imagined it to happen in all sorts of strange places, but certainly not in some sort of academy. But the day had become even stranger when an unknown Kree had entered the premise. Each Kree was listed in Hala's databases. If this wasn't recognized by the system, it could only mean that he had grown up somewhere outside of the empire. How large was Mar-Vell's network? While Yon-Rogg had tried to follow him, he had resorted to waiting for him outside as the hallways were vacant and he wouldn't have been able to sneak upon him. So, he resorted to listening in to the inspirational speech Mar-Vell's pilot was giving to the little recruits or pupils as the Terrans called them. Now all he had to do was to bide his time. He'd eventually find out what he needed.

"For me, there is no greater honour than serving our free nation to not only protect our borders but also defend every nation too weak to fight."

Yon-Rogg silently snorted. Well, Mar-Vell's pilot was laying it on thick.


	4. Chapter 4

Carol was sitting at the stairs of the school entrance next to her sister. The other parents and their children had long gone, but she and Theresa were allowed to stay behind catching up, and she still had a few hours until she was expected to reconvene with Dr Lawson. She found her little sister amazing, once she had come out of her shell. She loved reading just as much as Carol had at her age. Unfortunately for her, their father had restricted her sister even more.

Consequently, Carol had begun writing a list of suggestions for her to read, and her sister's eyes had started to shine. Especially when she explained her listings. But then her little sister's expression darkened as she had no idea how to read all those books because she wasn't allowed to take them home. Well, she was here and would inform her sister of a few tricks that she had acquired.

"Do you really think that this works?" Theresa asked sceptically, and she nodded, grinning confidently.

"If our father has grown some brain, then it won't work, but it did work fine for me. He isn't exactly the brightest bulb." Theresa giggled scandalized, and Carol decided she loved that carefree sound. She knew that there weren't many carefree moments, such as this for her.

"When he did take my science books away, I became creative and exchanged the bindings of a few extra Bibles lying around in the church and used the binding to mask my books. Of course, it helped that I could recite it by heart. The bindings are under the third tile in the corner in your room. You know there is the tile with the cross carved into it. You start to count towards you, and the third tile is easy to loosen. There might be few other useful things hidden inside. Also, if you walk into your wardrobe, turn right and crouch down. There's a small vent opening. Pull it out, and you loosen it. You can hide up to seventeen big tomes behind it, and they are none the wiser. But, always close it so that they don't find out.

"I did think that it sounded a bit hallow," Theresa smirked conspiratorially.

"Of course, you did. You're the most intelligent individual living in that house right now."Carol told her swiftly. Suddenly her sister was edging closer, hugging her tightly. A heartfelt embrace that she returned. Her sister needed that. She could sense it. Their mother had never really embraced them much because her father had told her that it would make children weak. It seemed that he still was enforcing this.

"Couldn't you just take me with you?" Theresa murmured, and Carol tightened her grasp protectively. She knew that feeling all too well. Only she hadn't had a big sister protecting her.

"You have no idea how much I want to do that. And even you just took the words out of my mouth, I can't simply abduct you, Theresa." She murmured back. "It would only land me in jail and make things worse for you than they are now. So, we need to figure something out. I'm not making any promises for now, but I'll think of something."

A man came towards them with deliberately steady strides. "The Kyln is a barbaric place." The man told her, and Carol froze. It was the code phrase! So much for inconspicuous. She smiled at him answering. "Well, the Kyln is heaven compared to the Vault."

"Are you sure about that?" he enquired challengingly stepping closer, allowing her to slip him the crystal. Still, she didn't really want to give any quarter, stood up and closed the space staring at him challengingly.

She quickly took the crystal out from her pocket and dropped it into his jacket pocket. "Well, clever individuals might escape from the Kyln. The vault, however, is a one-way ticket. Care to try?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

He stepped back and rose his hands in defensive laughter. "Who am I to challenge Lawson's protégé. I'm only going to lose. Or at least that's what she's told me."

"She did?" Carol laughed but continued to stay suspicious. "What did she say about me?"

"Yeah. I mean. She told me that I'd find you here. Someone who dares to write her bachelor thesis about the implications of the Fermi Paradox and how to hypothetically prepare for such events has my profound respect." He bowed mockingly and put his right hand over his heart "especially with your current technology. "

"Our current technology?" Theresa piped in from behind Carol voicing exactly what had irked her as well. Lawson certainly had strange associates. She put her head to her side. "My sis' is correct. I was wondering about that as well." She winked at her and turned back to the man, who coughed into his hand in embarrassment. "I meant the US Air Force is lagging behind a bit. NASA, after all, is the front runner when it comes to scientific equipment."

Now Carol nodded. It made a bit more sense now. He must have been from NASA. Even though Project Pegasus was a joint project facility, there were some things that Stark didn't want to share with them, so Lawson might have needed a way to secretly cooperating with them to achieve her goals. Whatever those goals were. The conference probably wasn't ideal for that, so that's why she had likely tasked her with that. But why a crystal?

"So, you work for NASA then?" she inquired with a side glance at her sister who followed the conversation with interest. Her eyes gleaming with excitement.

The man wiggled his head, his gaze falling towards Theresa. He smiled and nodded. "Yes, I do. And I can almost feel the barrage of questions young…"

"Theresa." Carol supplied.

"Theresa has, am I correct?" he squads down to her level and she nodded enthusiastically smiling at him.

"I do. I mean. I…I… I always dreamed of becoming an astronaut." She blushed. "but my father told me that women are too stupid and too weak to become astronauts." She told him, grabbing Carol's hand for support, who gritted her teeth in anger at her father.

"Barbaric." Rhoman Dey muttered, shaking his head, clearly not unaffected. "He is wrong, young one. NASA wouldn't be the same without the brilliant minds and skills of both men and women. Did you know that many Mercury 7 trajectories were calculated by a woman? Women are an integral part of NASA, and so can you, young lady. But you have to study hard."

"I can do that." Theresa mused and then shook her head. "But father won't let me."

Carol also squad down to her sister. "You know he's right. It's doable, even with a bullying thunderhead like our father. I deliberately got detention each day, because that meant that I could do my homework without anyone of the family disturbing me. For basic NASA requirements, you need to be a citizen of the United States, pass a strict physical examination, and have a near and distant visual acuity correctable to 20/20 (6/6). Blood pressure, while sitting, must be no greater than 140 over 90. If you want to become a commander and pilot for them, then they require bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and at least 1,000 hours' flying time as pilot-in-command in jet aircraft. It all sounds were complicated know, but…"

"But I won't be able to achieve all this." Theresa lamented. "I shouldn't be selfish for wanting this so badly. Mum is doing poorly, and dad says that it's my fault if I want things that agitate her."

"In other words, that fucking son of a bitch blames you for everything." She glanced at Dey. "I'm not apologizing for my language, Sir" He just put his hands into the air as if to beseech her but remained silent. "He tried to do that with me, as well. The only one at fault for mum's ill state is our father and our father alone. You are not responsible for any of that. So, be selfish, Theresa. I was too. It is your life, not his. And you are the one who will outlive him quite a bit."

* * *

Yon-Rogg neck hair straightened. He was confused. This whole thing just had turned into a real Starforce mission. What in the name of the old gods was going on?! He had seen the unknown Kree enter the Terran academy, but he hadn't come out. His target Danvers was currently exchanging pleasantries with a Xandarian corpsman, who looked quite inconspicuous in Terran clothing but Yon-Rogg knew him.

Additionally, to that, he had identified a dark-haired female Asgardian keeping just out of sight, but her eyes firmly locked onto Rhomann Dey. Were they all working together against the Kree?! That was a terrifying thought, indeed. Or was Mar-Vell selling her discoveries to the highest bidder and the Corpsman just had managed to get to her first? Or had the Asgardians heard about a handover and wanted to get their self-righteous hands on that? Or, where they all Xandarian citizens? Xander was known to harbour all sorts of criminals and dangerous people. Even Skrulls at one point in time. One thing was sure. Her priorities weren't with the Kree any longer. Which meant that he had to get a hold of the crystal somehow, Danvers had slipped into Rhomann Day's pocket without anyone else finding out. Report to the Supreme Intelligence and drag the wayward scientist back to Hala for trial.

Mar-Vell's comm had just peeped twice, indicating that Soren had managed to pick up the supplies she had gathered and the data crystal without any problems from Maria and her lovely daughter. She allowed herself a hesitant smile. She hadn't been the only one making it to the conference last minute. Well, she had been a last-minute guest speaker, but inconspicuous four Kree had shadowed her. They were well trained to fit in, but she had always been good at detecting others of her species. And there were just some subtle hints that they weren't Terrans. One of these hints was that they didn't interact with other scientists or students, present at the conference, clearly not understanding the idea behind it. She just hoped that her son would make it back to Xander without any problems after the handoff with Carol. But she had needed his help desperately and had suspected that he was on planet to take another survey of the Terran's political developments. Xander preferred to study species from afar and let them develop on their own. It had drawn her son to defect to the Xandarian empire and forced her to unleash a temporary data virus to scrap every information about him from Kree databases. If she was entirely successful, she didn't know, the Supreme Intelligence might have some knowledge about him still. His father would be furious if he were ever to find out where his firstborn had disappeared to. After all, he did have a personal vendetta against Xandar, that his legitimate second born had soaked up as well. Letting her son go from Hala's databases had been the only thing she had been able to do for him after all as she hadn't been allowed to raise him due to her rank and he had been the firstborn to his father's family. Technically he was a bastard, but as he had been conceived at the festival of their old fertility goddess, he still counted as the firstborn.

"It seems that you tried to evade me after all, mother." She heard a deep voice from behind and jumped. What was he doing here?! He could endanger the entire mission! He could endanger himself.

She carefully turned around. There he was. Strong, proud, lilac eyes. The very image of his high-born father, yet with her pink skin, which allowed him to blend in with the local crowd.

"Noh-Vell. What are you doing here? If anybody recognizes you!" she whispered, taking in the sight of him. She wanted to hug him, crush him towards his heart, show him how much she had missed him, how much she loved him, but that wasn't something he was used to. Kree didn't precisely show affection openly. She smiled. Yes, the humans were rubbing off on her.

"Not to worry, mother. They won't." Noh-Vell shook his head and enveloped her into a bone-crashing hug surprising his mother. "Your shadows were just drawn out of the building. And your Star Force Commander was out of his depth at that primary school anyway by the way."

She froze: "What Star Force Commander?" Cold shivers were rushing down her back. She had been right. She was under observation. But the fact that it was a Star Force Commander suggested that her situation was direr than she had anticipated.

"The poster boy, what's his name again?" her son informed her, and a worried look rushed over his face when he gazed at his ghostly pale mother.

"Yon-Rogg!" she gasped. The personal protégé of the SI was here on Earth, and he was on going after Carol now that she had used her for the diversion, and she had used her son for the distraction as well. What had she been thinking?! She knew he was a dangerous warrior and not somebody anyone would want to meet on the battlefield. House Rogg was one of the more influential ones, and the entire family was known to be ruthless. Not as vicious as their rival house Kassius, but pretty damn close. They always got what they wanted, well except Uly-Rogg who had one pink-skinned son. Yon-Rogg. Everyone knew about Yon-Rogg. The exiled pink-skinned son of Uly-Rogg who had persistently worked himself up from the drags of the lowest levels of Hala. To achieve this, he had to be just as ruthless as the rest of his family. Though she had heard rumours about Yon-Rogg being kind to the youngest recruits in the primary academies. Mar-Vell sighed. She was doomed. The Tesseract was safely secured on the cruiser. Soren and her team were probably implementing her adjustments to the engine at this very moment. So, there was still hope for the Skrulls. Only a tiny one for her. But she really wanted to live to see the Skrulls reunited and living in peace.

"What did you mean with, Yon-Rogg was over his head at Captain Danvers' primary school?" she inquired remembering about her son's boast who smiled confidently.

"We confused him with me, Rhomann Dey and the nosy Asgardian shadowing us. As he actually was observing the school alone, without any backup, he couldn't attack us without drawing attention to himself or getting his ass kicked by the Nova Corps. So, he requested backup from the sleepers here. I just took out the remaining Shadow when I came. She's asleep in the broom closet for the time being. So, do you also have a real data crystal for us?"

* * *

"So, what do you find most terrifying about the Fermi Paradox?" Rhoman Dey asked her changing the subject after they had successfully convinced Theresa, that she was able to achieve her goals and Danvers had roped him in to actually help her keep an eye out to help her sister in the future. Xander had given strict orders to not interfere on Terra, but there was something about the young woman that he just couldn't say no to, and her sister was equally talented in drawing him in. Or she just reminded him of his own baby daughter, who would have all the opportunities she could wish for. It broke his heart, hearing that this culture was still so far behind recognizing the immense potential of both men and women working together as equals. Well, he would make sure that their Xandarian Sleeper in this city would keep an eye out for the little girl and help her if necessary when her big sister wasn't immediately able to help her from across the continent.

"As you are so well informed, you probably know the answer to that anyway." Carol jested patting her sister on the shoulder, who grabbed a notebook, a pencil and wrote Fermi Paradox on it, sheepishly grinning at her bigger sister, clearly awaiting her to answer.

Carol chuckled. Alright, she would indulge her sister, and if that made her even more interested in science, then it was definitely a win. Now, if Theresa and Monica, who also was interested in this vast topic, were to join forces in a few years, she was confident, that the world had to do their best to keep up with them.

"Alright, there are numerous things that I find captivating about the Fermi Paradox, which is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability." She stopped short and watched how her sister's pencil quickly flew over the paper, writing down everything she had said.

"The thing I find most terrifying about the Fermi Paradox is the idea of 'super-predator' societies. As you are probably aware. This is one of the proposed solutions to the Paradox: that one species arrived on the scene first, developed intergalactic travel and conquered the galaxy, and now actively prevents other species across the galaxy from advancing beyond a certain technological point, to ensure they have no competitors."

Rhoman Dey hid his grin behind a cough, but Carol had seen it, nonetheless. She narrowed her eyes at him. Did he know something that she wasn't aware of? Her little sister seemed oblivious to her suspicion and patiently waited for her to continue.

"This makes some sense, given that there are stars and planets in our galaxy significantly older than our world and our sun. Because of this, if we assume development timeframes of something even remotely close to ours, there could be species that are many millions, even billions of years ahead of us in terms of development, a technological timeframe so frightening large that we couldn't even conceive of their level of technology. The ant not being able to see the interstate highway, as it were. There is something known as the Kardashev scale, which measures the technological scale of civilization. A Type I civilization is able to harness all the energy of their local planet. Humanity ranks at like a .7 or .8 here. A Type II civilization can harness all the energy of their local star. This would be the level of highly advanced races seen in a lot of science fiction, using theoretical technologies like Dyson Spheres and the like. A Type III civilization can harness all the energy of the entire galaxy. We can barely conceive of a Type II civilization, but the scale and level of development to reach Type III is well beyond anything we can even begin to think about."

Theresa turned over a leaf and marked the term Dyson Sphere with a question mark, but didn't openly question what it was. Carol decided that she would come back to it later and explain the concept to her sister, whose eyes shining as she was listening.

"Now, if we recall that the Earth is roughly 4.5B years old, and life formed on our planet roughly ~3.5B years ago. However, there are Earth-like planets in our galaxy that are well over 8B years old, meaning they could have had life begin to form 6 or 7B years ago, putting them several billion years ahead of us in terms of development."

Rhoman Dey nodded in encouragement, but there was still that unsettling smile on his face that Carol just couldn't place. Was he amused about her or about her sister, or was it something else? In the back of her mind, she scooted over to hypothesis 23 of the Fermi Paradox. That the extraterrestrials already walked among them unacknowledged. She just shook her head at that. If she were to voice that the man might consider her a nutter. But, it wasn't entirely out of the question. It was a possibility. Not a big one, but still.

"So, the bible is wrong about the creation of the Earth?" Theresa asked, her jaw-dropping. "So, not a few thousand years old?"

Carol sighed. "Although, I wanted you to find this out for yourself, science doesn't agree with most things claimed in the Bible. And it certainly doesn't confirm the Young Earth theory. There are even some churches who already acknowledge that. There are a few books on your list that deal with this in more detail. But you have to find that out on your own. I want you to come to your own conclusions."

She continued her little lecture. "Anyway, This would place them in a position of technological prowess so infinitely beyond us that we could never hope to compete, and thus they could simply do away with us at any time they begin to feel we pose a threat to their status as king of the hill. They only reason they haven't already is because we are so far beneath them that we merit no concern beyond studying from a distance. That is what terrifies me the most about the Fermi Paradox."

"And what prompted you to write your BA-Thesis about it?" he enquired

Carol raised her eyebrow. "Well, I'm in the Air Force. They prefer sponsoring research on topics that could be relevant for the future, and I probably watched too much Star Trek with Maria and Monica and stumbled upon the Fermi Paradox during my studies and just wanted to work with that and the rest is history. And I already did hand it in a few days ago. Dr Lawson was a great help pointing out some weaknesses, by the way. Just waiting for the confirmation that it is accepted and then finally my degree." He just nodded at her; his suspicious gaze however drawn to somebody partially hidden behind the tree at the opposite side of the street.

"So, if our planet is so far beyond their technology, how are we supposed to defend ourselves against those aliens in case they attack?" Theresa asked with her head to the side.

Carol grinned proudly at her. She was sharp for her age. "Well,…"

* * *

"Min-Erva report." Yon-Rogg quickly spoke into his com, wishing that he needn't be dependent on the Kree sleeper cell right now. Min-Erva, he could trust to have his back. The Kree sleeper cells didn't have earned it yet. And it also didn't sit right with him that he had to call them for back up, but he had identified several Xandarians, probably Nova Corps members, in close vicinity protecting Rhoman Dey. He could have taken a few of them out, but not all of them and certainly not without the Terran's realizing that something fishy was going on. The last thing they needed was to let the Terran's find out that extraterrestrials were real as it would give the Inhuman population on their moon possibility to integrate themselves into the Terran society and basically taking them over.

"Commander." She acknowledged. "How are things going?" It seemed that she heard from his tone that he was frustrated.

"Not as well as it should be." He informed her with gritted teeth, still observing the target. "Any developments from your targets?" He hoped not, but he wouldn't put it past Mar-Vell that she was playing several sides against each other or that she was trying to blindsight them.

"Yes. Captain Rambeau stopped by Mar-Vell's apartment where she met a group of people who had come with one of the larger vehicles for furniture and boxes that Mar-Vell allegedly had donated to them. As she had to speak at that conference last minute she couldn't be there personally."

"Any indication on their identity?" he inquired, holding his breath. After all, he had seen a Kree, and several Xandarians and an Asgardian here, but what if those were actually Skrulls? Skrulls masquerading as those species to throw them off.

"Well." Her tone told him all he needed to know. Something wasn't as it seemed. "None, whatsoever. They appeared human, no indication of anything else and if they were Skrulls, then the DNA would match human DNA if they simmed them. But the boxes contained food. And I mean food that could last for a few months. Either Mar-Vell is collecting food for Terran charities, or she is feeding somebody else under the cover to collect for some charities. How she was able to gather that much food without us noticing is beyond me." His companion informed him and Yon-Rogg mentally cursed. The wayward scientist always seemed to be ahead of them. It was time to catch up with her before she became a real threat to the Kree empire.

"Did you track their vehicle?" he queried, knowing full well that she would roll her eyes at him for even asking this. Of course, she would have done it.

"Naturally, Commander," Min-Erva told him with a slightly mocking quality to her tone. "I found the vehicle abandoned in the middle of the desert. It is empty, but there are remnants of traces that show that something must have landed and taken off again. With your permission, I will take the vehicle back to its owner and find out more about those who have driven it."

Yon-Rogg nodded, even though he doubted that she would be able to find out more about the individuals. "Do, you know how to drive that thing?"

Min-Erva huffed. "Not, yet, but how hard could it be? Terran technology isn't very advanced."

_Or so primitive that even Kree could have problems with mastering it_, he thought. "Alright, you have permission to drive the vehicle back, then I want you to find out where the energy core is truly stored. I will talk with the Supreme Intelligence as soon as I come back and I expect that it wants us to bring back Mar-Vell and the core. It's time to end this."

His gaze was drawn to two vehicles that stopped in front of the school and two men, with similar complexion were making their way towards his target, who jumped up from her seat and changed into a defensive fighting stance protecting the little girl behind her. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Her face portrayed her fierce determination, yet there was anger lurking in her stormy eyes. Somehow, he didn't want to be in the shoes of those two men quickly closing the distance. A fight was about to unfold, and he was confident that it wouldn't end well for the two men. Notably, the elder one.

* * *

"Theresa!" an angry voice followed the screeching of the tires a few moments ago and Theresa jumped and shrieked. She trembled at seeing her angry father close the distance, her scary brother at his side.

Carol calmly put her hand onto her sister's shoulder as she jumped up and quickly jumped up. Neither of them would lay a hand onto her sister. Not, when she had anything to say about it. Rhoman Dey followed her lead and also stood up, but he seemed more observant of the situation than a real help.

"Step back, old man," Carol ordered him, focusing her gaze onto him. He stopped in his tracks, confused at her appearance. His son behind him. They were only two, and she had new military training. Well, her father had military training as well, but he didn't appear to be in any condition to stand a chance against her. His beard had grown a bit greyer, and he had become gaunt.

"So, it's true what I was told." He growled. "you've come back home and decided to continue the devil's work."

"Hm, you still aren't in therapy. Pity." Carol shrugged her shoulders. "Well, technically I just flew my boss to Boston and decided to get to know my little sister personally. And you should thank him really." She pointed at her elder brother. "After all, he was the one telling me that I had a little sister."

"I invited her to David's baptism, and she had the gall to wake my entire family in the middle of the night." Her brother stepped closer, but Carol just regarded him coldly, narrowing her eyes. The time of him being able to intimidate her was over. "You told the Rambeaus that I had to call you back. So, I did as soon as I could. Not my problem if it is in the middle of the night."

"He fell asleep at church that day." Carol heard her sister whisper from behind and burst out into laughter. "Perfect. I really would have liked to see you snooze away during your pastor's sermon. No need to thank me, brother. Mission accomplished."

"We were sleeping soundly until you wrecked our silence by calling us in the dead of night." He snorted angrily.

Carol raised her eyebrow calmly and quipped. "You do remember that lying is a sin in your church, brother. It took next to no time answering the phone, so you weren't sleeping at all. So, don't lie."

"Theresa get into the car!" her father ordered her sister angrily, who jumped behind her and grabbed Carol's hand.

"Stay where you are!" Carol instructed her evenly. "If you think that I let her get into the car with you when you are this angry, you are severely mistaken, father. I know perfectly well how this ends for her." Her father was growing red with anger, and she knew that he was close to losing control. But now she had some teachers watching them from the windows and a few curious onlookers from the streets, and she had the NASA employee passively observing the situation.

"You dare to come here, pretending to be an Air Force pilot when we all know that you are just whoring yourself to real Air Force pilots. You've never been bright enough to even make it into the Air Force." He hissed dismissively, and Carol just wanted to deck him right here, but she controlled herself in time. She was used to this kind of abuse and most of the time, it didn't affect her any longer, but this was her father, who demeaned her in front of her little sister. He wanted her to lash out to prove to her sister that women were servants of their emotions. However, she wouldn't fall for his words. Luckily, she didn't need to hurt him physically. She smiled indifferently at him and put her head to the side.

"In case you didn't notice my uniform. I don't need to prove myself to you as I actually did manage to achieve what Steven couldn't." Her words struck, cut more profoundly than she physically could, and she knew it. He saw red and charged at her. But Carol had anticipated it:

She quickly grabbed his arm with a strong pull and promptly turned her body. She lifted his elbow up, stepped in with her first foot to begin the pivot. Her hand entered under his arm until her upper arm and shoulder were locked tight against his armpit. She completed her pivot facing the same way as her father, knees bent so that she was considerably lower than him, with her feet between his feet. She continues her pull, now with both hands and her father entirely on her back. She bent forward and drove with her legs while rotating here shoulders and projected him forwards over her shoulder and she cheered when she heard the surprised yelp from her father hitting the ground.

A split second later she spotted her surprised brother who came out of her stupor and tried to intervene by hitting her as well. She dodged him easily, spun around and rammed her fist into his solar plexus with every ounce she could master. He stopped in his tracks and collapsed to the ground, holding his front, pulling his legs towards his upper body.

"Thank you for your help, Mr Dey," Carol remarked, nursing her right hand. She hoped that she hadn't sprained it hitting her brother. But it did hurt.

"You're welcome." He answered from the side frowning.

"You do have sarcasm at NASA?" she inquired drily, and he nodded with a smile. "There was no need to intervene, Captain Danvers. You seemed to have the situation in control."

She glanced at her sister who was staring at the situation with her jaw dropped and a pallid complexion. Her father and her brother groaning in unison as they struggled to get back up. Sirens came closer, so somebody must have called the police.

Her gaze was drawn to a broad-shouldered man at the opposite side of the street, partially hidden by a large tree, who followed the entire exchange with interest. And he wasn't the only one. She seemed to have attracted a crowd. Well, she just hoped that she could make it back in time to fly Dr Lawson home. She squad down to her father's level, locked eyes with him and lowered her voice threateningly. "I want you to know that I can make your life living hell if you lay even one finger on Theresa. So, for your sake, I suggest you will stop abusing her, you will stop abusing mother, and you will make sure to get therapy for your alcohol addiction. If you continue to hurt them, then I will know."

* * *

Yon-Rogg couldn't believe what he was hearing: Those two men were related to his target. It was almost unbelievable. He had thought that his father had been bad, but these Terrans were definitely more barbaric. But what surprised him was how calm she had stayed. It was so unlike what he had seen on the other side of the continent, where she had shown her passion openly. It seemed that she was able to perform when needed. Although he had no idea if she was bluffing, he suspected that she couldn't really make her relatives lives a living hell, but he could understand why she was acting so protective towards her sister. Children had to be cherished and protected as they would be drawn into the cruel reality far too soon. Or it was just him having a soft spot for children after his experience in the lower levels of Hala. Well, he could suggest to the sleeper cell to add the little girl to the surveillance list. After all, she had been drawn into contact with Xandarians, and he wouldn't put it past them to experiment on the little one. That was something unforgivable. And now he still had to manage to get the crystal somehow. Even though his backup hadn't arrived yet.


	5. Chapter 5

Min-Erva scowled brushing another pearl of sweat of her front. She just had brought that Terran his vehicle back and the beefy man had complained and thundered about the state of what he called "truck". Well, she really didn't see what the fuss was all about. After all, she had only hit a few smaller vehicles that had been in the way until she had finally managed to get that primitive thing under control. Yon-Rogg could never find out about that. He would probably never let her live this down. So, shouldn't the man be happy that he had that thing back? After all, that was the "truck" that had supposedly been stolen from his premises a few months ago. It didn't make much sense to her why nobody in the area would report seeing his "missing truck", but then there were quite a few similar looking ones, and the rest of the populous simply hadn't cared. Or they had just ignored it, as his obnoxious behaviour wasn't exactly the best. When he had threatened to call the local authorities on her because she "had looked fishy and not from around here" and not been able to show a little card of identification, he had forced her hand. And yes, she had to admit she had snapped. Her mission on this primaeval planet was taking far too long. She had quickly grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back and pulled it upwards at an odd angle and slammed his upper body onto his desk. The man had grunted, sweat had broken out on his front. She had insinuated that she knew something about his transportation habits in his trucks and if he were to call the local authorities on her, then he would be the one to have to explain himself to them. He had paled at that, had even muttered a diminutive apology to her. It seemed that smugglers were the same as everywhere. In the galaxies or on this primitive rock easily controlled if you had leverage against them. So, her bluff had played off. It seemed that the Skrulls had picked the right person to steal from. The only downside was that the owner of that blasted vehicle had lived so far away from the major settlements, that she had to track back down there during the heat to get to her hidden dropship. Unfortunately, she couldn't order it to come to her as this would mean that she had to undo the cloaking. But she would manage. She had survived worse assignments.

Well, now that this avenue hadn't been very fruitful, she had to get back to the Helion and figure out a way to get past the guards of that base to locate the core, so that her mission wasn't entirely fruitless. Pearls of sweat were gathering and purling down her face as the merciless heat rose from the dry baked ground. The Terran clothing, she wore to appear inconspicuous sticking to her skin. She checked her gear. Three ampules of her dehydration package were left. That was just enough to make it back. Yon-Rogg had to procure their wayward scientist and then they could finally leave this primaeval rock. She couldn't wait to go back home to Hala again to spoil herself by swimming a few lengths to relax and then challenge Yon-Rogg to a few more training rounds in the Star Force's Dojo. Her family had told her to get a move on with him, but she had no interest of jeopardising her trust with the Commander, who wasn't particularly known to trust that easily, just because her family were eying a connection to House Rogg for the future.

He trusted her, and that was enough for her. She had no desire to become a bargaining chip in the complicated machinations of family politics. She had worked too hard to become a member of Yon-Rogg's elite Star Force Team.

She spotted a few lizards sunning themselves on rocks, somewhere ignoring her, others quickly disappeared under the spines of one of the few rare bushes. But then she groaned in annoyance as she heard the approach of yet another Terran vehicle.

_Oh great, another one. _This was the third person stopping to ask her if she required a lift. What was it with these people? One man and a female had already asked her. Didn't they realise that they could put themselves in danger by offering rides to a complete stranger? Such things could get them killed in the Galaxy or worse. Enslaved or worse. She declined the offer, but this woman wasn't so easily deterred.

"Look, sister, I don't know who pissed you off like that, but it's almost noon, but the heat won't evaporate anytime soon. I won't leave you alone here in the desert. Because that what gets you killed!" she stressed. Genuine worry creeping into her voice.

"I'll manage," Min-Erva responded dryly and walked on. Didn't she get the hint? She followed her.

"Look, whatever happened. He's not worth it and dying alone in the desert, most certainly isn't worth it. Please get in the car…"

She rose her left eyebrow in quiet amusement. The Terran sees a lonely woman walking in the desert, and the first thing she comes up with is that she had some sort of nasty fall out with some male? She snorted. Perhaps she could get rid of her in a different way.

"What makes you think that my problem is a man? Perhaps I had a dispute with my female lover." She purred, hoping to get a rise out of the woman. After all, they had certain groups on this planet, reacting rather violently at such an idea. But to her disappointment not so her persistent pursuer.

"That's alright as well. I experimented with that as well during my flower power years. You know what, you could come to Rosamond with me and then I'll leave you to your own devices, but at least I know that you're out of immediate danger."

Min-Erva contemplated. This woman was persistent, that much was clear, and even though she had the urge to strangle her, taking her offer could save her some time. Not much, but enough to take a short shower in the Helion and trying to locate the energy core. With Mar-Vell still gone, she had better chances of finding it. But what if this was a ruse from the Skrulls to catch her? To take out their pursuers. Well, she decided to spring the trap if it was one. She just had to stay vigilant.

"Fine, you win." Min-Erva ground out but stopped when she was unable to open the vehicle's door and received a few giggles from the woman who leaned over trying to help her open it. Blasted primitive technology!

* * *

Tires screeched as the cars skidded to a halt. Dey quickly jumped out of the way and promptly took a turn to the right into an alleyway and stopped in his tracks.

Stacks of water-stained crates, litter, a rust-pitted dumpster leaking unidentifiable fluid, puddles of dried vomit, greasy-looking puddles, dirt and grime, ratty blankets greeted him. _Bugger_, he had taken one too early. He was trapped! Alone against at least five Kree. Not ideal, but he wasn't entirely helpless, and his compatriots could pin his location anyway once they'd manage to free themselves. Dey quickly scanned the three walls for metal fire escapes attached to a building, which he could climb on, but there was none. Doors? None. The grimy barred windows were too high up to reach, and the few rough bricks protruding from the wall didn't look strong enough to hold his weight. Alright, time to officially meet his enemies head-on.

Finally, they had him cornered. It seemed that the Sleeper agents weren't that useless after all. Calling authorities on the Nova Corps Agents and the Asgardian from a nearby "telephone booth" was a stroke of genius, he had to admit. He hadn't even known that such a thing was possible. Sometimes primitive technology had its perks. The diversion had worked like a charm. While they were busy dodging the "police" he and the agents had trailed after Rhoman Dey who had tried to slip away. Unfortunately for him, he had taken one turn too early now and had walked straight into a dead end.

No windows, doors or anything comparable was in sight. Good luck for him, bad luck for the Corpsman. But that didn't mean that this one would give up easily. Nova Corps agents weren't to be underestimated. Well, Yon-Rogg had no desire to begin a blood bath on Terra or harm him, but the crystal was his priority, and he wouldn't leave without it. If a fight was inevitable, then so be it.

"There is no point in running." He addressed the pacing man, trying to find a way out. "We have you five to one. Hand over the crystal."

Dey tensed and shook his head. "I like those odds. And that crystal is my life insurance. If I give it to you, then you have no need of me, and you'll kill me."

Yon-Rogg now shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'm asking you now once to hand me the crystal, and if you do, we will let you go unharmed.

The other snorted. "Forgive me for not trusting your promise. You are from the Janus-faced house Rogg. Your family isn't exactly known to keep their promises. And most especially not to Xandarians."

Well, yes. He knew that his family's reputation. After all, he had suffered from the consequences of his father's decision. But it didn't matter any longer. He had achieved to become a commander of Star Force and was no serving his people. Whatever the Xandarian had planned, it seemed that he was surprised at Yon-Rogg's reaction to his taunting. Didn't he know that Kree were able to control their emotions? He smiled thinly and inclined his head. Lowering his voice Yon-Rogg responded coolly. "That is indeed the reputation of my family's name, but unlike them, I was raised properly to serve the Kree empire. I keep my words."

"So far, your behaviour indicates otherwise, Kree." He countered, stepping into a defensive position. His gaze briefly flickered to the group standing behind the Commander. Yon-Rogg decided to change tactics. Trying to get a bit more information about why the Nova Empire had such an interest in this planet and most notably in the NASA. Perhaps the Xandarian would drop his guard. Putting him at ease was one possibility. But Dey had a point. Five to one was threatening.

"So, since when are you working with Mar-Vell?" Yon-Rogg enquired, crossing his arms switching into a conversational tone.

"Who's Mar-Vell?" Dey asked wrinkling his nose, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. Yon-Rogg had to give him credit. He was convincing.

"Dr Lawson is her alias here on Earth. Don't act as if you didn't know that. We heard your conversation with her Terran protégé" He locked eyes with their target, who shrugged.

"Fine. Worth a try." He ground out. "Your dear Mar-Vell is part of a Kree group that works towards a permanent peace treaty between the Kree Empire and the Nova Empire. Your leader, however, has no interest whatsoever in a peace treaty between out empires."

"Our leader would certainly want to have a peace treaty with Xander, but you prove challenging." Char-Li, one of the Kree agents cut in from behind. "So, everything that isn't sanctioned by the SI makes them traitors."

Rhoman Dey snorted, shaking his head. "Only a Kree deals in absolutes." Yon-Rogg threw his agent a glance to indicate that it wasn't his place right now to speak even though he had a point. It wouldn't do them any good if they seemed like an uncoordinated mess.

"Why are the Xandarians so interested in Terra? They have no valuable resources, they are primitives." The Commander queried, and the planet is under Asgardian protection."

"And they are doing a marvellous job at that." Dey scoffed. One exiled Valkyrie for the whole planet. I could just throw that question back to you. Why are the Kree so interested in Terra?" Dey shot back deflecting the question. "After all, you have a larger presence here on this planet than we do. So, something is definitely going on. Running out of slaves?"

"Kree don't have slaves," Yon-Rogg stated acidly. He hated that those rumours still circulated about them. It had been the Kree who had been kept in slavery from the Skrulls and they had somehow managed to turn the story around. "So, please answer the question."

"Alright, alright. The Terrans are fast learning primitives. There is a Terran Ravager, who creates trouble everywhere he goes." Dey shrugged but continued. "We have an interest in this particular area as we didn't want our technology to fall into the hands of the Terrans. We are attempting to get our tech back before they figure out how to use or even worse replicate it. In the Terran year of 1947, so, 42 years ago, an important Kree prisoner who had escaped the Kyln and stolen one of our drop ships crashed it here on this planet at a Ranch near New Mexico. She managed to escape before any Terran's could find her, but she left the crashed dropship behind. It isn't in Area 51, that much we already know. Latest intel has it, that NASA, is taking a closer look at its technology. Trying to find it, we stumbled upon Mar-Vell, who promised to help us locate it and prevent the Terran's from copying its technology, but her help had a price."

"What price?" Yon-Rogg inquired tensely. This could be the confirmation he needed that she had become a traitor. But then, this information came from a Xandarian. So, he would need to verify specific details back on Hala.

"The condition was that we should grant her son and his family sanctuary," Dey told him with a lopsided grin obviously finding this amusing for some reason.

Yon-Rogg's eyebrows shot up. Mar-Vell had a son?! Why hadn't there been anything about him in her files? Why hadn't she asked about a sanctuary for herself?

"Why did her son require sanctuary?" he queried, pressing for more information. It had either been a lie the scientist had concocted, or she had managed to delete him from Hala's system. If that was possible, then this group she was allegedly part of could do some severe damage, and it was his job to stop them. They also needed to know how far their reach was and root them out if they even existed. How had this group been able to grow without the Supreme Intelligence finding out about it? They must have avoided any sessions with it or perhaps the Skrulls had brainwashed them? It wouldn't have been the first time.

"He fell in love and procreated with a Terran. Something that his father, a prominent Accuser, didn't take too kindly as you can imagine. He was raised by his father's family, after all. "

Now, it dawned Yon-Rogg, that he might have to look for information about her son from a different angle. It sounded as if her son had been created during the annual worship of the ancient fertility goddess. Sometimes, when the nightly unions had been blessed with offspring, then the family of higher standing could theoretically offer to raise the 'bastard'.

"Who is that Accuser?" he asked with interest. Not because it was gossip that he could potentially use to his advantage, but also because he could become a security issue. His family lived for information like that, but he wouldn't use such dishonourable practices. Yey, Accusers were the staunchest fraction of the Kree empire, but the man had obviously let his son be raised with his family. So, there was a minimal chance that he could choose his son over the Kree empire.

There, was that unsettling smirk again on Dey's face. The information had to be juicy.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he crossed his arms defensively. "Sure, you are ready for this information, Commander? Hm? It might shatter your entire world view." He teased, wiggling his thick eyebrows.

"Just answer the question." Yon-Rogg made no point in hiding his growing annoyance with the man who clearly was stalling for time. His wrist gauntlet lit up, telling him that the Nova Corps agents were on the move again and were shadowed by the only remaining agent who had come to his aide from the conference. Another message lit up, indicating that they had lost contact with the agent who had stayed behind to shadow Mar-Vell. This was getting out of hand.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you." He shrugged. "The answer is Ronin of House Ronan. He is the father of Mar-Vell's illegitimate son."

There were a few sharp intakes of breath behind him, and he had to admit, that he was a bit shocked to hear it, but if what the Corpsman had just told him was true, then Ronan had a brother. A brother that could seriously harm his house. He was a liability for them. So, his worry that they would choose him over the Kree evaporated. And although he'd love to rub it into Ronan's face when he tried to argue in favour of putting Star Force under the Accusers command, he wouldn't use this against him. He was just as efficient for the Kree as his father. But he would certainly inform the SI about this. It wasn't his place to be the judge of House Ronan.

"Interesting." He stated calmly. "And who was the Kree, that crashed the dropship?" Rhoman Dey had tried to play them by giving up one 'scandalous' information so that he could bury the more critical one. There had to be a reason, why the Nova Corps officer was beating about the bush concerning her identity. So, the person had to be somebody of high importance to the Kree.

He chuckled at him, still clearly relishing that he had important information that Yon-Rogg desperately wanted and he had seemed a bit disappointed that Yon-Rogg hadn't reacted to Ronin's reveal.

"Well, we don't know much about her. She was said to be a beauty. Seem like an insignificant pink-skinned Kree when she was caught. A bit pompous, but she was damn crafty to escape the Kyln. Forced us to completely modify the system."

"Get to the point. Who was she?" Yon-Rogg ground out. Dey was plainly stalling for time. The time that his compatriots could catch up with him.

"Mari-Ell," Dey responded, squaring his shoulders.

"What?!" one of the Kree agents called out: "Mari-Ell, Champion of the Kree Empire, first of the Supreme Protectorate! That's impossible!"

"Yes, that's her. We knew that she was important to you, but certainly not that she was that high up on the ladder. What we could find out was that she tried to hide among the Terrans and even had a daughter with one of the locals. Kree women undoubtedly are gifted to wrap men around their fingers. But the man was shot about two years after their daughter was born due to a case of mistaken identity. Means a bounty-hunter was convinced, that he was the on the bounty was on. Didn't even get charged with murder. We only found out about Mari-Ell because one of our agents stumbled upon a what Terrans call pulp fiction story about, well, 'a fast healing demon witch bleeding blue blood'. It even was a bestseller among certain communities."

Yon-Rogg exhaled slowly trying to keep calm. Now was not the time to think about what horrors Mari-Ell had to endure. "First the Kyln, and then that. How many people lived in that town or village that they had been able to take her out? This legendary hero had single handily brought whole armies to their knees. Terrans shouldn't have been a problem for her. Why had a mob of Terrans brought her down? Then a dark possibility entered his mind.

"What happened to her child?" Yon-Rogg asked hoarsely holding his breath. He was showing too much emotion. _Control your emotions!_ He had to get a grip on them again. He shouldn't let his mind wander about the fate of that child. It might have been a hybrid, but with Mari-Ell as her mother, there was no way that the Supreme Intelligence would have risked letting the child, or the unique powers it could have inherited from the legendary warrior fall into the wrong hands.

"Ann-Ell? We don't know. What we could find out was that the reason her mother was slaughtered was the accidental use of her power. She caught a foul ball by floating up and grabbing it and thus protecting her daughter from serious harm. As she, unfortunately, lived in a small town that hosted religious zealous, this was her death sentence, and they didn't even show remorse telling our agent about it. Those brutes were proud, to do 'their god's work'. So, we have to assume the little girl might have been killed. At roughly age two, she certainly wouldn't have been able to defend herself."

"How do you know the girl's name? Did you try to find the little girl?" Yon-Rogg asked, taking a deep breath while taking a deliberately step closer towards Rhoman Dey.

"Of course, we did." Dey shot back. "There was no evidence about her to be found. No, body, no unaccompanied child that fit her description. She just vanished. We could only find a birth certificate with her name on it. One American one and one handwritten one in Kree Glyphs in an abandoned shack next to the house where the family had lived before disaster stroke."

"Do you know what happened to Mari-Ell's body?" he asked, doing his best not to let his revulsion show. Those savages had managed to kill one of their best heroes and probably even her offspring. An innocent child. They shouldn't get away with that. He knew that religion was complicated on this planet, and indeed, not all religious people were that dangerous. But extremism was the bane of every sane civilisation.

"From what we could find out, they wanted to burn the body, but they said that 'the Feds' showed up taking it from them before they could destroy it. The only problem is, this sort of thing isn't in the FBI's jurisdiction, and they had no record about it in any of their files. But we did find a file mentioning another organisation called SSR. The next trouble is. That organisation was dissolved. So, we have no idea what happened to her body, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't just leave it somewhere unsupervised."

"Probably not." Yon-Rogg sighed. He definitely needed to inform the SI soon about the new development which would probably add far more sleeper cells to the planet. Possibly even some that could infiltrate the highest levels of their governments. They owed it to Mari-Ell to find her body and bring her back home to Hala where her mind could be joined with the collective. And perhaps even her daughter or… even a granddaughter? He counted. Theoretically, it could be a possibility if the girl had managed to escape the slaughter.

"Well, the corpsman was good at drawing our attention away from the main problem," Char-Li stated again. "But the implications of NASA having access to the crashed Nova Cops dropship are far more disconcerting than, them having Mari-Ell's body. After all, NASA had several expeditions to the Moon."

He froze and mentally cursed. His Kree agent was correct. He berated himself. The SI would tell him off for being too preoccupied with Mari-Ell's story. If this NASA had been able to reach the Moon, then there was a risk that the Inhumans had sent somebody back down.

The Inhuman population, living in proximity, had been allowed to live due to SI's grace because they hadn't access to interstellar travel. But now all bets were off. It was possible that the SI might send some Accusers to cleanse the Moon to prevent the Inhumans to venture into the Galaxy.

"The Moon? Why would that be a problem?" Dey asked casually, but with a glint in his eyes that told Yon-Rogg that they just had given their enemy an idea.

"That's an interesting question?" came another voice from behind them. Yon-Rogg mentally groaned. Fantastic, the Xandarians had caught up with them.

* * *

It had undoubtedly been an eventful day. She had met her son again, the Nova Corps had received parts of the information she had promised them, but Carol had certainly beat her when it came to the eventfulness of the day. But her pilot was uncharacteristically silent. She did seem preoccupied. Worry was edged into her young face.

"So, let me get this straight. You are pressing charges against your father and your brother for attacking you? "Lawson asked again as if she couldn't quite believe it.

Carol nodded with a heavy sigh. "I had to. If my father is found guilty, then I might have a shot at gaining custody for my little sister. Admittedly a small chance, but a chance, nonetheless. It already was hard for me to leave her behind in Boston. She isn't safe there." Her voice wavered, heavy with emotion.

"You do realise that by pressing charges, you will have to travel back and forth a couple of times." She reminded her. "That won't be cheap."

Carol concurred. "Yes, I know. I might have to volunteer for a bit of taxi work for the Air Force between the two cities to save money, but I just couldn't ignore my little sister's plead. You don't know what my family's like. I've long given up trying to save my mum, but I won't give up on my little sister."

"That will add more responsibility onto your shoulders." She reminded her, thinking about her own son, who had told her that he was living on Terra now and sometimes ran errands for the Nova Empire here. He also had added more responsibility onto his shoulders. His father just could never find out, or he'd kill him personally. She certainly didn't approve that he put himself and his family in danger for the Xandarian Empire. Not when she had actually made a deal with him, that should have protected him."

Your mother can't help? "Lawson suggested, but Carol shook her head vehemently. "No, my mum doesn't dare to speak up against my father at all. That's why I had such a bad feeling when she picked my sister up. She didn't even look at me. My mum usually takes most of the brunt when he gets angry, but she also doesn't dare to interfere. Probably has to do with the demons of her past."

"Demons of her past? Sounds ominous." Lawson stated frowning, leaning closer to Carol as much as her tight seat belt allowed it. She knew she shouldn't care, but it was always good to have additional information on the people you worked with. She mentally shook her head. This way of thinking probably was a remnant of her Kree conditioning. Always staying vigilant.

"Well, not really. I mean, my mum has been pushed around from orphanage to orphanage, foster care to foster care as long as she can remember. They always told her that her mother had to have been a demon as she had sometimes supposedly been speaking in tongues. They tried to beat the devilry out of her' and thought her that 'women should be sober, love and obey their husbands, love their children, be chaste, discreet, good and keepers at home'. So, three guesses what kind of orphanages she was in. And unfortunately, that's precisely what she follows through. I admire her for her strength to put up with all that, but I had no desire to follow that nonsense that she tried to instil in me and I certainly don't want Theresa to be indoctrinated with that."

Lawson gaped at her in shock. Of all the things she had expected, this hadn't been it. "I'm lost for words. That's terrible." she gasped.

Carol remarked bitterly. "Well, that's what religion can do to people. And that's not even the worst what happened."

"How can this get any worse? "she bit her lips. She had met lots of people, even pious ones here on Earth, and most of them seemed like good people, so she had never understood Carol's hatred towards any sort of religious institution. But now it began to make some sense.

"Well, when I was in high school, I was a bit too curious. My mum always seemed so much younger than my peers' mothers. They sometimes believed her to be my sister. So, I counted back and found out that she had to be around thirteen when she had me. At least that's what her "birth certificate" said. Unfortunately, it isn't her real one. She got one when she was entered into the system, and she needed it for her marriage."

Lawson's jaw dropped; her eyes wide. She gulped down the bilge rising from her stomach. It definitely wasn't Carol's aviation skills causing that. Their flight was smooth, and the tailwinds were in their favour.

"Yeah, that was my first reaction as well." Carol nodded, checking her navigation.

"How is that even legal? "Lawson ground out with heavy compassion in her voice, shaking her head. "I mean, she was far too young. And that had to be dangerous for her body."

"I guess it could have killed her, yes. Well, some of the states still don't have laws against child marriage even today. Technically, it was legal, but I have no idea how my parents even met. In church or something, I don't know."

"You never asked?" her mentor asked, and Carol sighed. "Yeah, I did ask, but she just shut down entirely and started to sing her little song, rocking herself. Back then I just was too stunned and tried to find out more about it. I asked my brothers, and they told me it wasn't my place to ask, and my father gave me a severe beating with his belt just for asking. So, I went to the police, but they just shrugged their shoulders telling me that it wasn't their place to interfere in marital affairs.

"Well, I beg to differ," Lawson stated heatedly. "I mean, if she was rocking herself, then that is a clear indication, that something is terribly wrong."

"I know, that's why I tried to get her away from home, my former teacher even tried to make contact with women's shelter, but a majority of them was run by church organisations, and the state-run ones had no capacity at all an as my mother wasn't in, and I quote immediate mortal danger, she wasn't even put on a list. And when I tried to tell my mum to apply, she told me that I should let it go as she would never leave my father as this was not god's will. Then she sang that song again in the language only she could understand."

"The one she got beatings for as a child, because they thought she was speaking in tongues?" Lawson asked raising her eyebrow. That was certainly unusual. It had to have meant a lot to her if they hadn't managed to silence her.

"Yeah, the thing is I've seen people from another congregation, who supposedly were speaking in tongues. They talked gibberish and were probably just high on some or faked it. My mum's utterances did sound like an actual language." Carol stressed tensely.

"Well, perhaps it is a language, that isn't that well known here. After all, how many of this planet's languages can you recognise?" Lawson added. After all, it was possible.

"Good point," Carol stated remembering that she had thought the same thing which had resulted in pestering all students in high school who were known to speak other languages. But none had sounded even remotely like her mother's utterances.

"Do you remember the song?" She definitely was curious. Carol had managed to become a remarkable fighter pilot with that much emotional baggage. To overcome all that was an impressive feat indeed. No wonder that she had tried to leave her past behind. Mar-Vell hid her smile behind a cough. Performing best without letting personal problems getting into the way, was a very Kree thing to do. Maybe Terrans and Kree weren't so different after all.

"How could I forget. That song sometimes haunts my dreams." Carol mentioned hoarsely. "Not sure if I get the pronunciation right, but it goes like this." She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

_"Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull,_

_big bad Skrull, big bad Skrull?_

_who's afraid of the big bad Skrull?"_

Mar-Vell's breath hitched. No! That couldn't be! Cold shivers were running down her back!

_"He comes at night, he comes at dawn, _

_To steal the children, to steal their blood,_

_He comes at night, he comes at dawn, _

_To steal the children, to steal their blood._

_Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull_

_big bad Skrull, big bad Skrull?_

_Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull?_

_He comes at night, he comes at dawn, _

_To destroy our empire, to destroy our lives,_

_He comes at night, he comes at dawn, _

_To destroy our empire, to destroy our lives._

_Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull_

_big bad Skrull, big bad Skrull?_

_who's afraid of the big bad Skrull?_

_I'll punch him in the nose_

_I'll tie him in a knot_

_I'll kick him in the chin_

_we'll put him on the spot_

_Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull_

_big bad Skrull, big bad Skrull?_

_Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull?_

_He changes his form, he changes his face, _

_To lure you away, to lead you astray,_

_He changes his form, he changes his face, _

_To lure you away, to lead you astray._

_Who's afraid of the big bad Skrull_

_big bad Skrull, big bad Skrull?_

_who's afraid of the big bad Skrull?_

_I'll see through his ruse, _

_I'll fight his wicked attempt, _

_I'll protect my family, _

_We defend our people, _

_Accusers grow in size,_

_Starforce on the rise, _

_Supreme Intelligence, _

_Lead us, guide us._

_We are Kree,_

_We are strong,_

_We are united. _

_For the good of all Kree." _

Mar-Vell's heart plummeted harder with every line. She knew that song. Every child on Hala knew it! The parents usually taught it to their children very early on so that they would become vigilant. Through Maria, she had found out that Terran good night ditties were much more suitable for children and less propagandistic. Carol had been right. It was a language. It was the Kree language! The old gods certainly had some strange humour. One of her few favourite Terran's had some sort of a Kree connection. Well, if Carol's mother knew that little ditty, then chances where high, that she could come from a Kree family. Most especially, as she had taught the short song to her daughter, with near accurate pronunciation. Odds were that at least one parent of Carol's mother was Kree. The question was, who was that person? A sleeper agent? A deserter? A criminal? Which Kree would leave his/he child behind. Kree children were revered.

Well, hybrids not as much, but they wouldn't be left behind like that.

"Ring any bells?" Carol asked with a side glance and Mar-Vell slowly wiggled her head trying to save time. "Believe it or not, but I've heard that song before. A long time ago, but I can't figure out where." Oh, she knew exactly where, but it wouldn't do Carol any good to tell her. Well, not right now at least. First, she needed to know more about her mother.

"Really?" Carol's face lit up in excitement. "So, I was right. It is a language?"

"It is, but I don't know how it is called." She couldn't tell Carol about it, she just couldn't. But, by the old gods, she desperately wanted to. Yet, she had to maintain her cover, and she certainly didn't want to get her hope up. But that didn't mean that she would let this go. Her son might be able to unearth some information about Carol's mother. Well, at least as long as he was on the continent. Perhaps Carol's grandmother had been a sleeper agent? Or maybe she had been stranded on the planet? Or,… what if she had been one of the rare few female Kree who had retained the only gift that the SI, considered too dangerous. It was certainly a possibility.

"What's your mother's name?" She asked absentmindedly. Perhaps the name could give her some clue as to what to look for.

"Annabell," Carol answered. "At least, that's what the authorities thought her name was when they found her because she whispered something that sounded like that name. They thought that her mother must have named her after a puppet from a famous horror story."

* * *

Min-Eva was fighting hard not to kill the woman taking her with her to the settlement. Although she could swear that she was driving her insane. The woman just couldn't take the hint and continued to brabble away: About her husband, about her two children, about her church community she spent so much time in, about her school children she was teaching. Well, she seemed like a decent person in Terran's terms, but for somebody like Min-Erva, who abhorred that much talking, she was annoying and draining. More than once, she had played with the idea of just jumping out of the car to escape her, but she wouldn't put it past her to follow her.

Finally, they pulled in a parking lot, and the woman stopped her engine. She could spot a familiar bar, that Mar-vell and her favourite pilots frequented. Well, thank the old gods for a small merci. Her drop ship was just behind the hills.

The woman turned towards her with a big smile. So, here we are. Can I invite for a drink? But she just shook her head. "No, you've been most helpful." Min-Eva drawled.

"Are you sure?" the women inquired again. "I mean, I'm a good listener. So, if you're interested in unburdening your heart, here's your chance."

The Kree warrior huffed fiddling to open the blasted door, to escape. "No, need. I'm absolutely fine."

Are, there it was. She pulled the handle, but the door wouldn't budge. Was this the trap set by Skrull that she had expected? She hit her arm against the door, which resounded with a dull thud. Nothing. She pulled the handle and suddenly heard a frightened gasp and the woman edging away from her.

Min-Erva shot her an inquisitive look and was met with a terrified, shivering woman, who touched herself on her front with her right hand, moved to her left side, just over her heart and then to her right shoulder and began the whole procedure all over again, while murmuring some sort of prayer.

Where had her bubbly personality disappeared to? Min-Erva looked down at her hands, to figure out what could have changed so swiftly and her breath hitched. _Das't _She had hit her inhibitor on her arm too hard against the door. It had stopped working and her natural blue skin was now glaringly obvious. _Das't, Das't, Das't_. She had to get away!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Min-Erva emerged from the steaming refresher when she heard her communicator go off, indicating that somebody was trying to reach the Helion and it was rerouted to her as she was closer to it than Yon-Rogg. It had to be her Commander as he was most likely already on its way back. But why didn't he try to contact her directly? She checked the code and shook her head. Nope. She would not touch that one. That was not Yon-Rogg, but it was for him, and she certainly would not answer it for him. His family business was complicated enough, and she had no desire to be drawn into that massive drama that surely would unfold once they would return to the capital.

She quickly put her uniform back on, studying the specs of the facility she wanted to infiltrate one last time. Mar-Vell was not back yet, so it mostly had not found its way back to her that a blue-skinned woman had barely escaped from that closed vehicle. Well, she had quickly knocked the woman out, managed to shatter the window and had made a run for it.

Min-Erva sighed. It had been a close call, and she could not slip up again. The Supreme Intelligence had made it very clear years ago, that it would not accept the slightest failure from her. Not one. Not even a minor one. She could have compromised the entire mission now and therefore forfeited her freedom or her current position. Now she had to salvage it somehow and locate the core or at least tag it. Security was tight, but after dark they usually became lax. She and Yon-Rogg had identified two smaller service tunnels, that lead into the heart of the facility. Considering the dense webs that had hung there, they were not sure how many people even were aware of them. She guessed that they were excess water sewer tunnels, but in a desert that was a bit unlikely. Or perhaps they had a secondary function as escape tunnels? She had sent small drones out to get rid of any arachnids, insects, and other crawlers in those tunnels so that she would not find any nasty surprises. And she really did not like arachnids. Especially as she had no idea how big they could grow on such a small planet or how poisonous they could be. There were some rather large ones on other planets, but once you knew how to kill them, they were easy to exterminate. The smaller ones that came in larger numbers where those to look out for. How the humans had survived that long on a planet that was this hostile was beyond her anyway.

Their planet seemed to be teeming with nasty Flerkens, and yet the Terrans revered them. A habit that Mar-Vell apparently shared with the Terrans. She even had found evidence of a Flerken Goddess, which Terrans on a different continent had paid homage to. Basta, Basted, Bast or something. Alright. She closed the last clasp of her uniform and took her rifle. She had a job to do. Her future hung in the balance. No slip-ups this time.

* * *

"A beautiful landing." Dr Lawson remarked stretching contently as Carol taxied towards the hanger as instructed by ATC.

"Tried my best," Carol responded, suppressing her yaw. "Keep the seatbelt on. Regulation states that you can only open it when I say so and as we are not a civilian vehicle; it has to stay on until we have parked the bird in the hangar."

The older woman yawned heartily and saluted Carol jokingly but followed her lead. Just as Carol wanted to direct her small plane towards taxiway KC at the first junction along the rapid exit taxiway, which would lead back to the hanger, she hit the brakes.

"Uh, Ground control, FN-2187 Beech Baron, verify, you want me to taxi in front of the 747?" she spoke into her comm. Technically, the plane wasn't in the way as she would turn left into taxiway K, but this one looked almost ready to depart, and as it was already very late, there was a chance that ground control and ATC had gotten their wires crossed and Carol didn't want to be responsible for any runway incursions. Notably, one that would not end well for her plane.

"Copy. Yeah, it's ok." a male voice answered her through the com. "He's not hungry."

Snorting, her eyes widened. Dr Lawson raised her eyebrows. An operator with humour. That was a first but could also get him into a lot of trouble, and she still had no helpful answer.

"Ground control, FN-2187 Beech Baron, Quick reminder that our communication is monitored. Is it safe to taxi to taxiway K?"

"Copy, FN-2187 Beech Baron Proceed to Taxiway K as instructed. It's the front. Taxiing **behind** the 747 is something that should be avoided. Proceed as instructed." he answered.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." she murmured, shaking her head, wondering if this Ground operator was drunk or otherwise pre-occupied. Taxiing behind a 747 was dangerous due to the jet blasts from its jet engines. Every pilot knew that.

She sighed. "FN-2187 Beech Baron, Proceeding as instructed." Carol was about to lift the breaks when she heard a mighty roar from the runway to her right. She froze. A hot shiver running through her entire being. That was the jet engine of the 747! It accelerated down the runway, past their taxiway and ascended into the air at the far end of the runway to her left.

"WTF." Carol cursed, feeling her ire rising. She took two deliberately slow breaths to calm down. She was about to give the Ground operator a piece of her mind, but unfortunately, she still depended on him. After all, she could not trust him if any other planes were landing or departing.

"That's what I call good instinct, Ace." Dr Lawson remarked drily. All signs of exhaustion gone from her face.

"Ground control, FN-2187 Beech Baron, the 747 just departed. Runway incursion BARELY averted. Waiting for NEW instructions." she spoke firmly into the comm. Well, calmer than she felt. But giving in to her emotions right now would not help her get out of this situation. They could come after she had parked her bird safely in the hangar.

"Copy, FN-2187 Beech Baron." a new voice came through the comm. "Taxi to holding point Bravo 3 Runway 27. Left via Delta. Hold short of Runway 27 Left.

„Copy Ground control, proceeding as instructed," she responded and followed the instructions until the hangar came into sight. The gates opening, allowing her to park the plane aligned with the others. Her hands flicked over the terminals and proceeded to turn off the engines.

"Ground control, FN-2187 Beech Baron. I need both of your operating numbers for the incident report," she spoke into her micro.

"Copy, FN-2187 Beech Baron, nothing happened. No need for an incident report." the first voice answered her again hastily.

"Ground control, what just happened IS an incident, and we WILL follow standard procedure. Operating numbers, now." Carol did not really want to stall ground control for now, but she needed their operation numbers. Otherwise, her incident report would be left incomplete, and she would get in trouble. And that the operators did not want to share them was against the procedure. When it came to aviation, she knew how important it was to keep to the proceedings. Lives were on the line here. Everyone had to perform at their best at any time.

"Copy, FN-2187 Beech Baron" came the female voice again. "I'm the supervisor. There is no need for an incident report." Carol snorted and mirrored Dr Lawson who shook her head as well.

"Ground control, operation numbers now or you can be sure that this will have severe consequences," Carol replied unfazed and firmly. It would take longer for her if she had to hunt down for the information, but she had a witness, and she could not let them off the hook like that. Their lack of professionalism endangered all her fellow pilots, the people, and soldiers they were transporting and also the cargo. She would not let this go. Their licenses needed to be pulled. There was no excuse. And as a female pilot in the Air Force, she had to be doubly careful and stick to protocol.

"Copy, FN-2187 Beech Baron. No can do. Roger." the female voice ended the conversation.

Now Carol was close to fuming. She clenched her teeth. _Thanks for all the additional paperwork, Asshole!_ She wanted to scream into the com, but that would not help her at all. She went through the after-flight procedures on autopilot. She made extra sure that everything was in order, checking everything twice before she and her mentor made their way towards the command centre to fill out the additional paperwork and getting the ball rolling to initiate a thorough investigation into those two operators.

* * *

Min-Erva grunted as she hoisted herself up the dusty air vents. Dust that had not yet settled on the brown, yellowish and occasional black grime covering the walls was swirling around her. The blue-skinned spy kept her revulsion down. Her suit would need thorough cleaning afterwards. That the air vents drove the warm air in her direction did not make it easier, but it made the function crystal clear. They sent the warm excess air from that base outwards into the hot desert. Meter by Meter, she climbed making good use of the artificial magnetism in her boots. It was a maze down here underground.

The complex was far more extensive than they had anticipated or mapped. A labyrinth, but she had no other way to move around this base undetected. Something had to have interfered with their ship's scanners. With her rifle strapped to her back, she reached a crossroad in the vents and followed it crouching horizontally metal tubes. Occasionally, she stooped past a grid which allowed her to gaze into the corridors. Her breath hitched. _Dasn't_ That was not good. What she saw right now gave her chills. A few levels down when she had first spotted it, she had put it down to mere chance. But at this moment, this could not be a coincidence. _Dasn't_ Mar-Vell's pet was trailing her! There was no other explanation. She should have outclimbed that little menace by now, but Flerken's were known to be able to travel on their own, yet even the Kree had not yet figured out how. She ground her teeth. That could become a problem. One that she would have to handle before that creature got the jump on her. And she could not afford detection because of some stupid little Flerken. One of Yon-Rogg's potential new recruits would probably find this hilarious. Especially, as he was particularly good at sneaking upon them. She shook her head. Not with her. Min-Erva checked her computer and nodded. Well, at last. According to the energy readings, she was finally at the correct level. She only had to find it—time to soldier on.

"I swear that Kree has nine flerkin lives." a Second lieutenant grumbled under his breath pulling on his crisply ironed uniform. The First lieutenant strolling beside him in the almost deserted corridor shook his head but appearing to be equally uncomfortable.

"No, Rl'nnd. She just has an uncanny talent of surrounding herself with highly capable associates." he countered saluting a yawning Technical Sergeant, who mirrored his gesture, yet wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "Otherwise how was she, a pink-skinned Kree scientist, able to rise so high in their ranks?"

"Probably copulating herself upwards. You know how their people are. And you weren't supposed to do that. You are supposed to have a higher rank than that one." RI'nnd hissed stepping closer to the First Lieutenant. "Lower ranks do that thingy with the hand to acknowledge the person with the higher rank. Not the other way round."

"How am I supposed to know which one is a lower rank?" the other one shushed back. "Their signs lack any logical sense. As she is not splayed on the runway, we've to find her now. Probably for the best. Perhaps we could get some answers."

Suddenly, both detected an unnerving vocalization, that stopped them in their tracks. Fear creeping up their backs. How in Skrullos name could the Terrans leave this monster roaming around freely?! That terrifying creature was known to devour everything in its path. There was no way to tame its capricious species. They had a mind of their own and could not be trained or reasoned with. It should be kept in a cage or even better yet exterminated. However, the primitives let it roam around freely to serve their inhabitants as involuntary meals. Did they not realize the disappearances of their personnel? Too many of their own kind had fallen prey to this predator already. One scratch alone from it could cause severe tissue damage to humanoids resulting in scarring and permanent loss of function of the affected area.

"Miaow" That came from behind them. Closer this time. They were done for. That was it. S'Bak exhaled slowly. Years of lowly service for their council and this was how they would end? Just before she could make a name for herself, that was fitting for her station. She would end as a yummy meal for an ever-hungry creature.

"Goose!" came an excited exclamation from their front. Their target. Mar-Vell. This would have been their advantage had they, not that hazardous predator ready to pounce on them from their backs.

A fluffy ginger flash brushed passed their ankles, which caused them to flinch and quickly leap aside with racing hearts. Yet, the strangest thing happened. It did not attack them or devour them immediately. _It's toying with us._ Now that fluffy monster head-bumped their Kree target rubbing its cheeks contently along Mar-Vell's legs while emitting a tonal fluttering sound.

"It's playing with us." Rl'nnd whispered breathlessly. S'Bak nodded carefully in agreement. Yet the strange behaviour did not seize at all.

The female Kree squat down and petted the purring beast behind its ears, which it seemed to enjoy immensely. But RI'nnd could swear that it seized them up for a fight or probably waited for the right moment to gobble them down.

"Your tail is puffed," Mar-Vell remarked frowning brushing over its back, which the Flerken arched contently. "And you are tense. What were you up to while I was gone? Hm? Little troublemaker? What's going on?"

S'Bak wanted to get out of the situation. They should not have taken this rogue mission, but somebody had to do this. It was clear that the flerkin Kree scientist had somehow managed to do the one thing they had never anticipated. She had tamed a freaking Flerken! No Kree or Skrull had ever achieved to do this before. If she had accomplished the impossible, what else had she been able to cook up? That could only mean that the rogue mission that they had been sent on could not fail. The council would need to come out of their stupor and act. But before that they also needed to get their hands on the pacifistic cult, that General Talos wife had been able to build, which went against everything the Skrulls believed in. Or at least grab the cult-leader and drag her back to the Skrull High Council.

"Goose, what is going on? Why are you so agitated?" Mar-Vell asked the Flerken again whose entire demeanour changed. It seemed to grow tense, its eyes fixed on RI'nnd, its thick, fluffy tail was thrashing back and forth. A moment later, the Flerken also stared upwards towards the ventilation pipes for inexplicable reasons and towards RI'nnd who gulped. _We are done for! Forgive us, mistress! _The agitated beast seemed to perform some sort of pre-feeding ritual, as it circled around its axis, glancing upwards to the ventilation pipes, at both of them and back at Mar-vell while making this strange tooth-chattering noise that they had never heard before. _Good gracious!_ Did that thing talk to Mar-Vell?

The Kree woman observed her pet for a moment until she caught on. Her eyes narrowed when she detected the uncharacteristic behaviour of the two lieutenants, who were perched so close to the wall that it almost seemed that they wanted to merge with the walls around them. Goose was usually a charmer that everyone on the base adored. Most of the personnel working on the base loved to pet her whenever she pestered them for rubs. Only three individuals avoided her as they believed to be allergic to cats. She quickly glanced back to the corridor from where she had come and gazed behind the two frightened individuals. They knew this was not a cat. Their behaviour suggested as such. Yet, they were alone—nobody else in sight.

She carefully stood up again and prepared herself for a confrontation. The two individuals did not look like Kree to her and they certainly did not look like any of Soren's friends. So, it was very likely that they had been sent by the Skrull council to track down Soren and her compatriots, who they saw as defectors. She had promised Talos to protect them, and Mar-Vell planned to keep her pledge.

"At ease Lieutenants" Mar-vell calmly addressed them putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket. She did not know their names, but they simmed Lieutenants.

"My little friend here won't harm you as long as you don't harm me, even though she might be a tad bit curious as she never tasted Skrull before."

She could see that they two eased their stances a bit, but their fear of her little furry partner was not gone. It probably did not help much that Goose licked her lips and smacked them once. She considered eating them. Mar-Vell grinned. The Flerken definitely knew how to intimidate.

"How did you know we were Skrulls, Kree?" one of the two asked with a barely noticeable tremor in his voice.

"You forget child, that I hunted dozens of your kind throughout my long life. I know a Skrull Rookie when I see one," she explained calmly and couldn't suppress a grin when her words hit her mark. Old habits were hard to kill, it seemed. And young Skrulls were genuinely so eager that they wanted to prove themselves and made crucial mistakes. Blunders that played into the Krees' hands.

"We are not children." the other one complained.

"Perhaps not, but you are not properly trained yet." Mar-Vell admonished them. They had to learn. "How many Skrulls know that you are here?"

"We are not going to tell you that, Kree. If you must know. More than enough." the one to her right told her defiantly. "If we won't return unharmed, they will send other's for reconnaissance."

"Really?!" she drawled unimpressed but pressed on. "And what exactly do you want from me?"

"The exact location of General Talos wife, Soren." One told her coming straight to the point. "She betrayed him. Unlike her spouse, she acted against the War council's wishes. From what we could piece together, you two are working together on something, which is a sacrilege of its own."

She sniffed. "Soren and I have an understanding. The only thing we are working on is lasting peace between our two empires. That's all." Mar-vell mentally scoffed. She would certainly not disclose Soren's location to them or what they were working for. Soren's pacifist group was the only Skrull faction she trusted with her lightspeed technology. They needed to survive. They understood the importance of staying alive. They could show the other Skrulls that it was possible to live in peace and might be able to pull more to a peaceful disposition. The two novices standing in front of her affected her. She should have never openly spoken that out loudly. What if the two were recording her and leaked it to the Kree empire? Then she would be executed for treason. Well, she would be killed anyway if they found out, but she still longed to see Soren's group thriving. It would give her some peace to know that after so many horrible deeds, she had achieved at least one good thing.

"There can't be peace as long as the Kree exist." one of them rebuked baring his teeth. "And we won't run."

"For Hala's sake, child think. You are on the brink of extinction!" Mar-Vell scolded them passionately. "You can't afford to keep this war going. Your best chance of action is to keep low and get the hell away from Kree space. Your only chance is to live far away somewhere, where the Kree can't reach you!"

She breathed hard. That outburst was Carol worthy. She clearly had spent too much time in her presence. Usually, she was better at controlling her emotions. But those two rookies would be sent to their deaths by the Skrull War council which wanted to see the war continue in hopes of getting the jump on the Kree. To end the war on their terms, but that decision had already been taken out of their hands. Their numbers had been dwindling. Soren had even told her that one female Skrull was met with four male Skrulls. They did have a ratio that did not play into their favour. So, they kept sending the males into battle in hopes to even the odds.

"And why would you, a high ranking Kree scientist, care about us Skrulls?" the one to her left told her wiggling his head. "Hm?"

"I care because this war has gone on for far too long. Too many innocent lives have been killed. Too many children, both Skrulls and Kree, are prepared for slaughter by their leaders in an endless circle of violence." she told them earnestly. "It has to stop."

"Sure, she is a Kree? She doesn't sound like one." the one to her right jested. "More like one of the weak Terrans."

* * *

Min-Erva did not dare to breathe. Yon-Rogg had been right! Mar-Vell was a traitor! Stuck on her stomach in the dirty pipe, she just had recorded the dreadful truth that the scientist was working WITH the Skrulls somehow. All she wanted to do was jump out of that tube she was currently wedged in, take down the two Skrulls and drag the errant scientist back to the Helion where they would take her back to Hala for sentencing. She had betrayed them with their worst enemies. _Control your emotions, Min-Erva._ Her hands were trembling. Now was not the time to do anything irrational. She could not fail. Failure was not acceptable. She had to find the core, but she also needed to record the entire conversation. Mar-Vell was currently actually lecturing the two Skrulls about what had given them away to her. She was helping them to become better at infiltration?! Was she out of her mind?!

The blue-skinned assassin closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm her mind.

* * *

"Alright. If you don't tell us where Soren and her disciples are, then you will escort us back to base to Tarnax IV" she heard one of the Skrulls in disguise say. "Perhaps our new fracker will change your mind.", but he received only a humourless laugh from Mar-Vell.

"No, little one. Next two mistakes. A word of warning. Never speak the name of your base out. Notably, not in front of a Kree or the Accusers will rain hellfire down onto it in next to no time. Also, never brag about any new inventions or technology, or you are warning your opponents." she crossed her arms in defiance. "I am going to stay right here while you will turn around, leave."

"Nice try, oldie, but if you don't come voluntarily, then we will make you", the one to her right told her scowling and stepped closer. Something appeared in his right hand which had not been there before, so he must have masked it somehow from her.

Mar-Vell mentally growled, taking two quick steps back. They could call her oldie as much as they wanted. She had decades of training behind her, and she would defend herself if necessary. She was only lucky that the base was so deserted at this late hour.

Both Skrulls advanced on her, but…

A moment later they froze again at hearing an angry hiss, that was followed by the appearing of Goose's tentacles that quickly wrapped themselves around her young attackers. A heartbeat and a few high-pitched screams later, it was silent again. Her little furry partner in crime had apparently decided to take matters into her own hands. Mar-Vell felt a pang of regret. Yes, they had attacked her, yes, she would have fought them, but at least they would have had the opportunity to change for the better. They were just as misguided by their own leadership as the Kree were by the SI.

She locked eyes with Goose who shivered in disgust. She shook her head and mimicked gagging, and lip curling until she could get it under control. She now had wolfed down two young Skrulls, and it seemed that she did not like their taste. At all.

"Well, it seems that Skrulls are no delight to your taste buds," she remarked, brushing her right hand through her hair. Well, that would come in handy for Soren and her family. Goose certainly wouldn't eat them now.

Mar-Vell straightened and took a deep breath. It had been a close call. Every moment she wasted, was one moment too much that Stark or the Military could find out that she had taken the identity from Dr Waltraud Lawson, who had looked almost identical to her and who had perished from cancer in her chalet far away from society. She knew that she was stalling, but Earth had its very own charm. For the very first time in her life, she had felt welcome. Maria and Carol, her two aces, had certainly wormed themselves into her heart. But how could she have resisted these two young women? And the little pulsar, Maria's daughter had a natural magnetic personality, which drew everybody in. They had shown her so many earthly delights that she had never known. Recreation had been one of these delights that she had not known before, but Carol and Maria had been correct. She had been far more productive when she had taken short pauses.

She had kept the communication with her cruiser to a minimum and double-checked and triple-checked her engine, the maths, physics, the engineering, everything all ready. She could not come up with any more excuses to stall.

But the fact that two Rookie Skrulls had been able to track her down so easily showed her that it was time to leave her favourite planet behind. The last thing she needed was Kree interference or getting her plans for the lightspeed engine into Kree hands. She smiled. Adjustments to her lightspeed engine had come after her favourite unholy trio had taken her to a triple feature of Carol's favourite trilogy: Star Wars. Only the feisty pilot would never find out about that.

Mar-vell sighed again. She hated what she had to put Carol and Maria through once her disappearance became official. Her only hope was that the two aces would not lose their positions due to their association with her. It certainly would not be a smooth ride, but she could not interfere in their lives more than she had already done. Perhaps she could return one day, once Soren and her friends were settled somewhere safe.

"Miaow" Goose's urgent vocalization pulled her out of her reverie. She was circling and turning around her axis, with her gaze firmly locked upwards to the ventilation system. The Flerken was chattering again, its tail jerking up and down.

Mar-Vell stepped closer, looking upwards but could not see anything. She knew that sometimes rodents found it's way into the ventilation shafts and created havoc, which Mr Falsh, the head janitor of the base had to take care of. Speaking of whom. She needed to check if anything was compromising on the surveillance tapes. If yes, then she had to take care of it immediately.

"Come on, Goose. It's probably just a rat or something. We have work to do." The fluffy menace grumbled something, clattering her teeth, trying to get her attention back upwards to the pipes, but when Mar-Vell ignored her, she reluctantly trailed her.

* * *

Min-Erva exhaled slowly. Her heart was racing mercilessly in her chest. She had evidence that the mad scientist was working together with a female Skrull. A mate of a Skrull General no less. And she had heard of General Talos before. He was one of the most ruthless Skrull General's known to their species. How in Hala's name had Mar-Vell agreed to work with them? The only positive information she had heard was that there seemed to be some sort of dissident among the Skrulls. If they lacked unity, they were easier to defeat. And that Mar-Vell's monstrosity of a pet had swallowed the two Skrulls had given her some semblance of satisfaction. They had deserved this. Any Skrull deserved such a dishonourable death. After all the atrocities they had committed. Yet, when that dreadful Flerken had called out her hideout to Mar-Vell her heart had stopped temporarily. Well, it had felt like that. She had to vents ahead of her, which she could not merely climb through. It would take some moments to temporarily stop the blades to let her slip through. Luckily, the traitor had misinterpreted it, and they were on their way to do whatever they had to do. She quickly magnetized the blades, held them in place while she quickly crouched through and rereleased them. She was on her way again. Min-Erva allowed herself a small lopsided grin. Hopefully, now to the core. Her wrist comlink was leading her to its specific power signature. If she could manage to tag the core and bring back the recording, she would never have to mention her previous, almost failure to her Commander.

* * *

Mar-Vell slowly opened the door to the Camera surveillance room, which and could detect Mr Falsh's thunderous snoring. He had fallen asleep and was leaning with his chair against the grey, cold wall, which gave her perfect access to the surveillance system. She had expected to see the monitors stacked upon each other, cobbled together somehow, but she was surprised that this was not the case. They were neatly placed into the wall in a Closed-circuit TV system with tape recorders placed under them. She now had to find the one recorder of the hallway she had had her earlier encounter with the Skrulls. Goose was still tense, and she eyed the sleeping janitor warily.

Just as Mar-Vell identified the correct monitors, something in a monitor to her right drew her attention? Had something just jumped down from the ceiling in the hangar? No, she had to be mistaken. Perhaps somebody had an accident, but the hangar should be deserted at this hour. She clicked the eject button of the recorder and flinched at the loud noise as it stopped midway through the recording and ejected the tape screeching. Mar-Vell quickly glanced at the sleeping man, who just grunted once and continued with his sonorous snoring. A heartbeat later she grabbed the tape and was drawn towards the column displaying the hangar. Something was moving towards the Axis. The contrast wasn't particularly well, but her stomach churned violently when she recognized it. Not something, someone. Someone had jumped from that hight. A human might never have been able to make that jump. A Kree, however, was used to such extremes and as she observed the individual stealthily make her way towards the Axis, using crates, other jets and helicopters as cover, she felt blood rushing from her body. That individual was wearing a very dirty Star Force Uniform. She had to do something. That was probably what Goose had tried to warn her about, yet she had not listened. _Dasn't_! She cursed. Quickly stopping the tape in the recorder. She had to stop her. The red button was just above the janitor's head. Mar-Vell carefully tiptoed towards him and hit the red button, which sounded the alarm. Sirens started to blare, the red light was blinking, and the elder Kree scientist was ready to knock him out. He tried to jump up in fright, but Mar-Vell was faster. She slung her arm around his throat, even though he was struggling and gurgling in defence, but as a Kree, she held him tightly until he lost consciousness. She let go of him, cast a quick glance towards her target and saw that she had almost reached the aircraft. She could not let her get to it. Her life depended on it. Soren's life depended on it and that of her unborn hatchling. With two quick strides, Mar-Vell was at the communication system.

"Intruder in Hangar 2. Permission to use lethal force! "she ordered trying to mimic a deeper voice. She would not take any chances. After all she wanted to make it to her cruiser alive. With another quick glimpse, she saw that the Kree intruder put some distance between the Axis and ran towards the exit. If she had quickly reached the aircraft. She did not know, but she had no desire to compromise her mission further. It was time to depart.

Hastily she raced towards her office where she quickly stuffed a few documents into her flight bag, formatted the hard drive of her computer and sent two coded messages via yet another modified invention of hers. She could not delay her departure any second now. Star Force was here. That means that her life was already forfeited. She had to make a run for it without saying any good buys. It was now or never.

* * *

Soren was raised from her slumber in Mar-Vell's lab. Her ankles and her wrists swollen. It was almost time for their little hatchling to come. And yet he could not be with them. She missed him dearly, but he had to play the loyal general for a while longer while drawing more Skrulls towards their cause under the War council's very noses. She blinked sleepily. What had woken her from her slumber? There was a strange combination of sounds: Beeping, Beeping, Beeping, Silence, Rattling. She strained her pointy ears and realized.

Mar-Vell's secret communication device that she had built for only one reason had gone off. It was a communication method that Mar-Vell had picked up from the humans. So primitive that no Kree or Skrull would even consider it. Their protector must have been compromised somehow. Her heart jumped as she heard the strange message repeat itself again. She bit her lips, grabbed a piece of paper, and a pen and noted down the message:

... -.- .-. ..- .-.. .-.. / ...- -.- ... ... - / -.- .- - -. .- ... .- / -. .- - . ..-. .-. / ..-. .. . .-.. - .- - .-.-.- / -.- .-. . . / ... . .-. .- - .-. - .- -.- -. . ... / -.- - ... - .- / .-. . ... / - - - .-. . -.- .. - .-. .. .-.-.- / . -.. ... - .-.. / -. .- -.- ... .-.. .- -.- .- ... .-.-.- / - .- .. / - .- / .- ...- - ..- / .. ..-. . -.-. ..- / ... .- .. / ... ... ..- .-. . . / - ..- / .-. . ... / .- .- -.- .. -.- .- -.- / ... .- .. / .-. . ... / -. .- .-.. . - -. .. ... .-. .- -..- / - .-.. . ... ..- / -... .. ... .. / - -.. . .-. .- .-.. / - .- .-.. - . ... ..- / -.-. - .. .-.. .- / ... .. - - / .- .. ..-. .- - .. .-.-.- / - .- .-.. - ... / ..-. .-. - .-. - .-.. . ... ..- / -. .- .-.. .- -.. .- / -.-. ... ..- -.-.-

Her heart constricted and she gasped in fright. Mar-Vell better managed to escape their clutches unharmed or Talos would have a hard time finding them.

* * *

That chapter was a horror to write. The morse code message will be revealed later.

If you want, leave a comment. Thx.


	7. Chapter 7

**There are a few terms and pilot slang expressions you might need to know for this chapter:**

**MiG**: Mikoyan-Gurevich is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union.

(When Carol's crash happened, it was still during the Cold War. Admittedly towards the end, but it had to have occurred before June 1989.)

**Bandit** \- dogfight adversary, positively identified as a bad guy. Hostile aircraft

**Charlie Foxtrot** \- cluster-fuck

**Delta Sierra** \- "dumb shit": describes a stupid action

**Fangs Out** \- When a pilot is really hot for a dogfight.

**Gomer** \- slang for opposing fighter pilots

**Graveyard Spin- **uncontrollable spiral into the ground

**Padlocked** \- To have a bogey firmly in your sights.

**Warp One** \- Very, very fast.

**Smoking Hole** \- An aeroplane crash site.

**Three Down and Locked** \- Landing gear down and ready for landing. A required confirmation call prior to landing at Air Force bases.

I'm not a pilot, but I've read through a lot of instructional aviation course books in the last few months and still couldn't incorporate everything I've learnt. So, as I'm only a fanfic writer, I do apologize to any pilots who might be reading this, for any incorrect uses of the terms. If you find some, then let me know, please. Thx.

Now on with the story:

* * *

... -.- .-. ..- .-.. .-.. / ...- -.- ... ... - / -.- .- - -. .- ... .- / -. .- - . ..-. .-. / ..-. .. . .-.. - .- - .-.-.- / -.- .-. . . / ... . .-. .- - .-. - .- -.- -. . ... / -.- - ... - .- / .-. . ... / - - - .-. . -.- .. - .-. .. .-.-.- / . -.. ... - .-.. / -. .- -.- ... .-.. .- -.- .- ... .-.-.- / - .- .. / - .- / .- ...- - ..- / .. ..-. . -.-. ..- / ... .- .. / ... ... ..- .-. . . / - ..- / .-. . ... / .- .- -.- .. -.- .- -.- / ... .- .. / .-. . ... / -. .- .-.. . - -. .. ... .-. .- -..- / - .-.. . ... ..- / -... .. ... .. / - -.. . .-. .- .-.. / - .- .-.. - . ... ..- / -.-. - .. .-.. .- / ... .. - - / .- .. ..-. .- - .. .-.-.- / - .- .-.. - ... / ..-. .-. - .-. - .-.. . ... ..- / -. .- .-.. .- -.. .- / -.-. ... ..- -.-.-

_Skrull_ Vysht Katnasȃ gatefr fieltat. _Kree_ serat'mayneh kosta res motrekitri. Edsol gakhlakas. Tai oa avtu ifecu hai shuree mu res jakiyak hai res Naletnihra, tlesu bisi tzeral taltesu coila sito jifati. _Talos_ fro'tlesu nalada chu!

Soren trembled looking at the transcribed message again. Her fear returning. She had to get her panic under control. They had planned for situations like this. She had to calm down. Mar-Vell was a seasoned warrior. She knew how to evade her people. But that she had encountered both Skrulls and Kree did not sit well with her.

"Soren!" she heard Strullo call out to her when he entered the door. The young Skrull had been working on a small project of his own, in the adjacent room. It seems that he had sensed her terror.

Trembling, she wordlessly handed him the transcript and witnessed his blood drain from his already pale green face. Yes, their Kree cruiser was cloaked, but what if their ally did not make it in time or worse if she accidentally led the enemy here?

"Skrull War Council contact averted. Kree spy in the base. Possibly compromised. If anything happens to me on the way to the Cruiser, do not send signals for any reason. Talos will find you!" he repeated gravely.

* * *

"You've been busy," Yon-Rogg commented in silent amusement emerging from his conversation with the Supreme intelligence. As unpleasant as his encounter had been, Min-Erva entering the Helion wholly covered in brown dirt and dust clinging to her uniform and her every being was a funny sight. It was rare to see her in such a state, and he knew how much she hated it when she would have to clean her uniform, and it also meant that her mission had even gone far off course.

"And barely made it out alive of that wretched complex. Thank you very much for asking," she commented dryly pursing her lips. "I have your evidence of Mar-Vell's treason against the Kree empire, commander and only just managed to tag their fighter with the energy core before Mar-Vell got the jump on me."

"She got the jump on you?" Yon-Rogg could not hold back his surprise, but it also meant that they had underestimated their enemy yet again. She nodded in disgust and proceeded with her briefing explaining in detail what had occurred. How she had found a way in, how she had come to witness the traitorous meeting with the two Skrull younglings, the Flerken's attack and how she had just tagged the aircraft with a small beacon when the alarm had gone off to warn about an intruder. There had been no doubt about it. Mar-Vell had been on that com even though she had tried to mask her own voice. Yon-Rogg listened intently, yet the growing pulsating vein on his right temple showed Min-Erva his increasing anger at the traitor. Working with Skrulls against the Kree empire? She had just put a target on her back. That was unforgivable.

The female warrior ended her report by ejecting her data crystal from her gauntlet and placing it in the Kree console to show him her recording, which would also transfer the data into the Helion's data vault and make it available to the Supreme Intelligence. Her commander clenched his jaw. Min-Erva knew. There would be no mercy for the traitor.

Yon-Rogg exhaled slowly. He needed to stay calm. Giving in to his emotions would not serve him well. It was not his job to play executioner. But working together with the Skrulls?! Giving them advice on how to perform better? That was unforgivable. Min-Erva had done exceptionally well, and he was glad to have her on his team, but heir new orders by the Supreme Intelligence were clear. To bring Mar-Vell back to Hala, together with the energy core that their leader coveted so much. He then proceeded to inform his mission partner of their new orders and what he had found out during his expedition to the other side of the continent. Luckily, he had managed to avoid a bloodbath in that alley and retrieved the crystal, Capt. Danvers had slipped Rhoman Dey. But he could not shake the feeling that I had been far too easy. He wanted to believe that they had seen reason, to not engage in a fight for a crystal. But still. Yet so far, that had been useless as it was encrypted. So, they would need Mar-Vell to decrypt it. Min-Erva listened closely with a blank face and stormy eyes. Determination edging into them once she received their new orders.

They placed the Helion with the dropship attached to it halfway into orbit. All they had to do now was lay in ambush and let a spooked Mar-vell come to them. He would enjoy that chase and looked forward to returning home.

* * *

Never, ever in their career in the Air Force had Maria and Carol seen such chaos in the base. It was buzzing with unusually high activity. Everyone was checked continuously, double-checked and even triple checked at every single floor. Nobody seemed to know anything about what was going on. There were hushed whispers of two Lieutenants who had been found naked, stuffed in lockers. Yes, there was bullying in the Air Force. She and Maria had been on the receiving end a fair share, but what had been done to the two Lieutenants seemed a bit extreme and made their little race to base insignificant now.

"We had a security breach in the facility. There might be a cloaked MiG lurking somewhere." their higher-ranking officer had informed them when they had finally located him. Leaving them grounded on the base. There would be no flying for them today until they could identify the vessel. With that, he had left them alone to attend to his more essential duties.

"A cloaked MiG here?!" Carol scowled crossing her arms. A MiG so far south in the States was highly unusual. How had it managed to get here without being detected? It had to have a few refuelling rounds somewhere. If that was the case, it would mean that their enemies had staging grounds on US soil. How could that be possible? Especially without being detected. Perhaps from a state south of the US? Or maybe from another Soviet ally like Cuba, perhaps? It sounded ridiculous. And yet…

"I need to get my work to safety. There are lives at stake." Lawson started wringing her hands in agitation, trying to outstep Carol after her superior officer had disappeared through a metal door. She would have preferred to leave before the shift of her two favourite pilots started, but the military personnel had made it difficult for her to get away. Everything was on lockdown.

"You can't take the Axis up yourself, Lawson. You have no combat training." Maria argued.

"And you have no G-tolerance as you are not used to the G-Force, which alone could render you unconscious within seconds during manoeuvres, and your entire work gets lost and most especially your life. " Carol continued. They were all business which told Mar-Vell all she needed to know. They knew that this was serious.

"I designed the plane," Lawson told her steadfastly. "And I can fly it as well."

"With all due respect, but you have no practice pulling Gs, and there are some peculiarities of the Axis that are not for everyone to handle. If there are lives at stake, then I will fly the plane." Carol told her resolutely, locking eyes with Maria. Well, this was her moment. This was her moment to shine. She could finally show what they could do. Her country needed her to do her duty.

"Carol, I appreciate your bravery. Really, I do" Lawson told her with a grimace, "but I swore to do everything to keep my research out of reach from those entities that want power above all else, no matter the consequences. And if something happens then, I do not want to have your blood on my conscience as well. So, you stay put."

"Not an option, Lawson." Carol riposted clasping her hands behind her back, stepping in front of her mentor. "Maria and I knew what we would get ourselves into when we enlisted."

"Your little sister needs you." Dr Lawson exclaimed. She did not want yet another poor soul to be left to her own devices.

"What sister?" Maria murmured frowning, throwing Carol an inquisitive glance, who just gestured her that she would tell her later. She had not been able to fill her in yet. "This flight might turn into an ugly dogfight that might cost us our lives."

Carol shrugged, pressing her lips together in determination before she continued: "Maria and I trained for situations like this, and we can handle it. Maria has Monica to take care of, so I'll fly the plane, and my little sister is only one more reason to return victorious from that potential dogfight. Let's show those Russians what we are made of."

Mar-Vell sighed heavily. She knew that once Carol set her mind to things, there would be no stopping her. But she could not tell her that they would not face their country's archenemy in battle. Well, she might, but only once they were in the air.

"Alright, meet me at the Axis, I'll get us authorization to depart." Dr Lawson told her as she jogged towards the opposite direction. Carol cursed. Of course, they needed clearance. Why had she not thought about that? If there had been an intruder in the base, then all staff and most significantly, the planes were grounded. It took a sanction from the very top to get airborne now. But she would be ready.

A few moments later, Maria and Carol both found themselves in the enormous hangar working themselves through the pre-flight checklist of the Axis until they just had to wait for the proper authorization to depart. Other pilots were eagerly doing the same on their planes in anticipation of a hunt. Anything personal on their mind had to wait until later.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Carol," Maria stated, shaking her head once they had completed the checks a second time. "It's a similar foreboding I had when Frank fell."

Carol engulfed her in a bone-crushing hug smelling her flagrance, remembering the night Maria had woken up in cold sweat and racing heart claiming to have felt her young husband's death. To their horror, her sense had turned out to be all too accurate when the confirmation of his death had come in the presence of a soldier bringing her a folded flag. Three weeks later, Monica had been born and shone a light into that all-engulfing darkness Maria had gone through since then.

"Don't worry. You see. It'll be fine." Carol told her with determination. She exhaled slowly and vowed that she would return and not put her sister from another mother through another heartbreaking loss. Speaking of sister, there was another relative that depended on her. So, she had yet another reason to make it back in one piece.

Carol bit her lower lip. Better to tell Maria now than potentially never. "Speaking of sister…" However, to her dismay she could not continue, as Lawson appeared out of breath from seemingly nowhere, clutching a brown leather bag, her hair dishevelled.

Authorization was granted. Time to depart." she ground out breathlessly having changed into a flight compression suit, handing Maria a key card. "This is your key card. We might need you for tactical support in the tower. Currently, it is devoid of personnel. Your superior nowhere to be found."

"Got it. Warp One, Solo" Maria called out to her friend who helped her mentor into the cockpit, strapped the brown bag tight, before climbing into her seat as well.

Carol acknowledged it with a short salute. There simply was not enough time to respond to Maria's encouragement. A few heartbeats later she closed the hatch vowing to not create a Charlie Foxtrot. The hangar doors opened. That could only mean the lockdown of the base was over. They would be able to depart.

It did not take long for them to get airborne as all flights in the area were apparently still grounded, so she had the entire airfield for herself. That was a first. But she still needed to know where to go. And if there was a MiG lurking somewhere, then it must have come from a staging ground close-by. The question was, how close?

Carol heard Lawson providing her with the coordinates to their destination, but when she received the digits, a cold shiver ran down her back.

"Punch in the coordinates. 5229, -47, 8.768, 0.2." Lawson ordered her with an uncharacteristically strict edge in her voice. She frowned as she entered in the digits. Those were not coordinates! Those were state vectors. To be more precise vectors of position and velocity that together with their time, uniquely determined the trajectory of an orbiting body in space. Carol knew that the Axis was an advanced aircraft but was it actually able to go up to space? Well, she would find out.

"Copy that." she acknowledged after entering the digits but could not keep her curiosity at bay. She needed to know what was going on. "Where are we going, Doc?"

Her mentor answered flatly:** "**My laboratory."

A jolt ran through her. Her laboratory?! She had thought that Lawson's laboratory was down at the base. How on earth could her laboratory be in orbit? Space stations were a dream of the future of NASA and not a yet reality. Well, as far as she knew. Or did the NASA already have space stations on trial without telling the public? To keep it a secret from the Russians? She continued their steep climb upwards as the velocity was pressing them into their seats. Far too soon, she could make out the curve of the earth to her side.

**"**Your laboratory? What do you mean?" she enquired swiftly before her mind could conjure up any ludicrous ideas or conspiracy theories. She needed to stay focused and on the moment. After all, their lives depended on it. But she received no answer. Instead, Lawson let out a regretful exclamation that let Carol's blood run cold:" Oh no!" She glanced at her radar for an approaching jet but came up empty. Nothing. Nada. Yet, her neck hair straightened in apprehension. She became aware of something approaching at the periphery of her vision.

Was that a MiG? She glanced sideways. "Is that..." No, that thing was accelerating way too fast for a MiG, and it also had an uncharacteristic shine to it. She glanced back at her radar, but it still did not show anything. "Wait, what is that? It's not showing up on my radar."

"Go Carol. Fly!" Lawson ordered her with urgent desperation in her voice. Something green flashed up right next to her, followed by percussive sounds. The bogey was shooting at them!

"Fight's On" she radioed to the tower hoping that they would receive it. She had no clue what kind of weaponry they used, but she had no wish to get a taste of it. But Lawson seemed to know more than she let on. Withholding vital information now, at this very moment, was not in their best interest.

"That's no MIG, Lawson. Who the hell are they?!" she called out trying to collect herself. It was now or never!

The only useless order she got from behind was: "Those are the bad guys. Fly faster, now." Well, the bandits continued shooting at them. So, yes, they definitely were the bad guys!

"Yes, ma'am." she acknowledged and pushed the throttle forward, causing the Axis to speed up, letting the G-Force push her into her seat. Better get some distance between them. This was textbook one-versus-one manoeuvring for dissimilar aircrafts. The only problem was, she had no knowledge about the bandit's capability. _Dammit!_ The bogey was speeding up as well, easily keeping up with them. The dogfight between the two continued. At this speed, she only needed to move the lever a few millimetres, and it would spin the aircraft around helping her to dodge the green missiles. Carol quickly descended spiralling downwards towards the cloud level, which might give them some cover from the unidentified flying object. At least she hoped that it would provide some cover. The only downside was that she would be flying blind as well for a few moments. She felt the different G-Forces at work as they were pulling her from her seat or pushing her into it depending on her vector, adding additional weight to her body, straining, and compressing her entire body. Feeling her blood drain.

"What do they want?" she inquired quickly dodging yet a few green bolts from her pursuer. Nope. The bogey remained firmly on her tail and even seemed to gain ground.

**"**Me. My work. I never should have brought you along." Lawson apologetically called out to her, her breathlessness suggesting that the G-Force was affecting her as well, but Carol had no time to ponder about it.

Well, she had enough functioning as target practice. Luckily for her, the gomer was a bad shot in the cockpit. All this pursuit and not one hit. Very fortunate. It was time to get a better look at the bogey. With that Carol pushed the lever sideways to escape the other jet accelerating to best climb speed climbing straight ahead at full power. She knew that turning during this segment should be limited to the minimum as it required to keep sight of the bogey. In this way, she attempted to gain separation from the bogey to preclude being menaced at the top of a subsequent zoom and build an energy advantage while the bogey would be turning and most likely bleeding energy. Unfortunately for them, she had underestimated her enemy's capabilities. The spaceship was far more agile than any fighter she had seen. Her manoeuvre did not have a planned effect. She had not managed to gain any separation from it. Carol pulled the level and accelerated her climb, pushing the engines to her limit.

"Here come some G's," she warned her mentor. At this speed, the G Forces up to twelve times their average body weight would be merciless and could cause them to blackout because the G's did cause blood to pool in the lower extremities of the body. Their compression suits only saved them some time up to two G. Taking a deep breath, Carol pulled the lever backwards and clenched her legs up to her stomach muscles to combat the effects of the G-Force draining the blood from her body to her lower extremities. The nose of her plane rose upwards. Her heavy hand on the lever felt ten times it is regular weight, and yet she could not let go to keep the loop precise. She grunted, letting her breath out in small puffs, searching for the horizon as the Axis completed her turn. She could hear Lawson do the same. Through her cockpit, she could spot her pursuer fly along the same vector she had flown before. Mentally she cheered that it had worked as she aligned the nose of her plane with the same vector as her previous pursuer. She grit her teeth.

Now the fangs were out, and they were trailing the other aircraft. She had the bandit padlocked. Carol did not hesitate and opened fire at the enemy, who now realized that it had a falcon in it is knickers as it accelerated and tried to evade Carol's moves, by spinning, descending, changing direction and ascending again, trying to shake her, but it was futile. Nobody could say that she was not persistent. She countered every single one of their moves while continuing to send a barrage of missiles at the enemy aircraft. She would get them… eventually. Some of the percussions sounded differently. As if she might have managed to score some minor hits. Even though they tried a similar ploy like her at the cloud level. No matter what. It changed tactics and continued to stay at level, but just whipped back and forth in the air left and right in front of the Axis' nose in order to prevent Carol from getting a clean shot, but she was not so easily deterred as she managed to catch up with them. They would not be able to keep that up forever. The G-Forces at work in the adversary's spaceship had to be far too strong to do this. How that strange aircraft was able to fly like that she did not know. Carol never let them out of her sight and kept tallying them, using the targeting computer to aim for her adversary. _Gotcha_! Finally, it had found its target and locked onto their afterburners, changing to red and Carol fired.

But it did not have the desired effect. Instead, they fired back! How was that even possible?!

Her breath hitched._ "_They're firing backwards. Hold on!" she called out quickly, clenching her muscles again and pushed the lever sideways, causing the Axis to rotate around it's Axis. The G-force, her invisible enemy, making her hand weigh more than usual. Groaning, she could not keep a large enough rotating radius up as her hand began to tense.

Suddenly a hard shudder ran through her plane as she felt a harmful impact, and the left wing bursts into hot flames._ Delta Sierra_! Carol cursed as her aircraft tilted to the side heat, rushing down her body. Her stomach lurched as the Axis spiralled downwards to the ground with accelerating speed. Carol struggled to regain control of the plane but failed to do so. Her heart beating mercilessly as if trying to crawl out of her chest. She could not keep up that Graveyard Spin for long. Now there was only one thing that could still save them!_ Flying Cabrio. _

"Bail out! Bail out! Bail out! Stay with me Lawson!" she shouted at the top of her lungs and ejected the cockpit canopy from the plane to begin the ejection procedure. She pulled and pulled, gritting her teeth, but nothing happened. It did not bulge. **_Shit!_** The ejection seats did not function at all. They were still spiralling towards their certain death! **_Shit!_** Maria would kill her if she didn't return.

Quickly Carol changed tactics and struggled to regain control, by pulling at the yoke with all the powers she could muster to align the plane parallel to the ground. This would not be a beautiful Three-Down-and-Locked-landing. This would be an actual crash landing—a black mark in her records.

She grunted in the effort it took to keep it parallel to the ground while the systems warned her that she was on a collision course with the ground. Carol noticed that she was zooming above a lake and headed for a small island with high trees were in her path. A heartbeat later, she felt the high impact on several sides of what was left of her plane. Her head and her entire body were thrown around in the confines of her taut belt like little ragdolls. Her head snapping back and forth. She was helpless. There was nothing else she could do to stop it. She lost grip of her yoke.

A second later she felt her stomach drop, the hard impact under her on the solid ground, it bounced off and onto the water. She felt the stiffening of her arm against the lever, the deluge of warm water on both of her sides flooding the cockpit, another violent bounce as they slid forcefully forward until they came to an abrupt halt, that threw her into her taut belt, bashing her head at the controls.

She grew slowly aware of where she was, feeling numb. Time was running slow, and her thoughts fogging. All of a sudden, she could detect static from somewhere. Heavy smoke and scent of burnt rubber, wood and metal filled her nostrils.

"Danvers, Danvers do you copy?" she identified Maria's agitated voice from the Axis' radio. Time sped up again to normal. They were alive! They had survived! With a jolt, she straightened in her seat. But they were not safe yet!

"Yeah, I copy. We hit the ground." Carol quickly sent via the radio. Mainly to calm Maria. But for some reason, she did not receive her answer.

"Can anyone hear me?" she heard her friend's voice again. Even more anxious this time.

"Yeah. I copy!" she tried again, but this time she did not receive any answer. Carol cursed freeing herself from the restricting confines of her seat belt. It seemed that her radio was down as well. Frustrated Carol took off her helmet and climbed out of the cockpit with unsteady footing. Either the ground was not stable, or she had suffered a head injury. The latter being more likely. A groan from behind reminded her of her charge, which she had to protect. She had trained herself to withstand the G-Force. Lawson had no such training as far as she knew. That meant that she could be injured worse than she was.

Lawson's head was slumped against her chest_. _"Doc?" Carol addressed the older woman, putting her upper body back into her seat and by removing the elder woman's helmet. She was pale, her pupils unfocused and … she was bleeding.

"Your blood... it's blue." Carol stated gaping in wonder at her mentor. Why was her blood blue? She did not particularly look like a Horseshoe crab, which were known as living fossils on earth with blue blood. What had she gotten herself into? Hunted by a spaceship, blue blood? What the hell?!

"Yeah" Lawson responded, slurring slightly attempting a grin that ended in a grimace. "but, uh...how's my hair?" she joked in an attempt to alleviate the situation. _Really? You are joking now!_ _Not funny_. Carol mentally complained but could not keep a small lopsided grin at bay.

"Help me out," Lawson grunted as Carol unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her out of the wreckage, but there was something wrong with Lawson. She was unfocused, unsteady, in shock, murmuring: "I have to destroy it before they get here."

What did she have to destroy? This whole chase had been about **saving** her work. Now she wanted to destroy it? Carol supported her, her arms slung around her shoulders, as she attempted to take a few steps away from the debris of the Axis, but they did not come very far as Lawson fell over. Her legs buckling under her weight. Intense fear and worry over Lawson were washing over Carol. She needed to get her to a hospital. She could not let her die. Not Lawson. Not the woman who had encouraged her to be the best version of herself.

She leaned over Lawson, trying to help her stand again, but they both struggled. Her mentor panted heavily, desperately gasping for air. There was something she wanted to tell her. No! Lawson could not die on her watch now. They just had survived the landing against all odds.

The older woman grabbed Carol's shoulders with uncontrolled shivering hands. If it was shock, terror or fear, Carol did not know, but what she did know was that she had to get her to safety.

"What? Lawson?" she asked her confusion and her worry for her mentor increasing with every second.

The smoke around them grew denser, the sizzling of the fire grew closer. She searched Lawson's eyes, which still were unfocused searching for hers. Finally, the elder woman was able to lock hers with Carol's, and she could see the utter terror in her eyes. Whatever was coming for them. Lawson was horrified. She had never seen her like this.

"You remember what I said about our work here? What it's for?" she queried with a solemn voice, seemingly struggling to speak at all. She had to get her to safety!

"To end wars?" Carol replied, having heard this often enough from the woman resting in her arms.

Lawson gulped and took a deep breath. "Yeah. But the wars are bigger than you know." She grunted in pain, trying to sit up. The effect of the shock wearing off.

"Damn it!" she cursed, struggling to continue until she gave up and let her head plummet back to the ground.

"My name is not Lawson," she confessed. Her grip on Carol's shoulders clenching. "My real name is Mar-Vell, and I come from a planet called Hala." Her voice became steadier.

"I would say that your delusional, but we just got shot down by a spaceship, and your blood is blue," Carol answered, choking up letting out a distressed short laugh. She was losing her, and it was her fault. As ridiculous as Lawson's admission sounded, it rang true all things considered or her head was more banged up than she knew to believe this. For all she knew, she could be dreaming.

But Lawson was dead serious, and there was an air of absolute calmness spreading on her face that worried Carol even more. She had failed her.

**"**Listen, I spent half my life fighting a shameful war." Lawson, no Mar-Vell, told her, locking her eyes with her, a warm smile hushing over her face. "Now skedaddle before you give me any more regrets. Just remember the coordinates, okay?" Carol nodded the state vectors firmly ingrained in her brain.

"You've got to save them without me." Lawson now ground out her voice taking on a more delirious tone. What the hell was going on? _Save? Who? What?_

"Save who? How?" Carol ground out, but Lawson ignored any of her questions. This had not been a rescue mission to her knowledge. _Shoot!_ Yes, it had been. She had told them that 'lives were at stake'. Whose lives? Her peoples? Humanity? What could the aliens possibly want?

But Lawson's eyes were blurred again. It appeared that she had lost sight of Carol hovering next to her as she struggled to pull out a gun from her jacket. At least, to Carol, it looked like a gun, but unlike any, she had seen before. _What the hell!_

"Now, I've got to blow this engine before they find it." she ground out. Something was driving her. Her mission to keep her work save was somehow giving her strength. She was struggling to sit sits up, fighting through the agony it caused her was mirrored on her face. To Carol's astonishment, she succeeded to sit up and aim, but…

Something hot zoomed past her left ear and hit Lawson into her heart, the impact throwing her upper body back onto the hard ground where her unresponsive eyes kept staring upwards into the blue sky. Carol observed Lawson's upper body fall in shock kneeling next to her fallen brethren. Time had slowed again. There was now a substantial round black whole sizzling where her heart should have been.

They had found them! The assailant had found them and killed her right in front of her eyes. Her heartbeat sped up. She could feel it in her throat. Now, she was the only one who could protect Lawson's wishes. Carol had lives to save. And she damn well would make it out alive from this skirmish. The life of her planet depended on it. She quickly hovered over Lawson's fallen body and reached for her weapon. She would not let them get their hands, fangs, or whatever on what they wanted. Lawson should not have died for nothing. Now she was all that stood between them.

Carol pointed it at the direction of her attacker and switched looking at Lawson's body splayed on the ground and at the direction of the aggressor. The sound of her heartbeat was thrashing in her ears. The heat around her grew warmer. As she was breathing heavily, she took two deliberate breaths to prevent her from hyperventilating. She needed enough oxygen in her lungs. How would the aliens look like? Green with pointy ears? Blue with menacing red eyes? Would they have tentacles? Or perhaps even worse like the alien from that Ridley Scott movie she had once seen? Grey and bald like the Rosewell Martians?

Something was moving in the dense grey smoke. She could detect the stealthy sound of heavy boots on the gravel, coming closer to her location. Carol squinted her eyes, trying to see through the thick smoke, yet it was unfruitful. There! A shadow. She could make out the silhouette of a…man. No tentacles yet.

Finally, he stepped through the thick canopy of smoke into the sun and Carol hesitated to shoot. He was not what she had been expecting. Did not look like an alien. He was tall wearing what looked like a green scuba diving suit moulded to his body, displaying a star on his chest. Carol could make out short brown short hair and the beginnings of a receding hairline as he casually pranced towards her location. If she hadn't known it any better, he could have passed as human.

"We have no interest in hurting you." he drawled, locking his golden eyes with hers, putting his head slightly to the side.

_No interest in hurting me?! _Yeah, well she would not take his word for it after everything that he had done. Her fury exploded, washing over her fear. He had murdered Lawson! Her friend and mentor and he came for her lives work.

"No?!" she angrily jabbed at him, quickly getting up onto her two feet to gain even footing. Drawing herself up to full height.

"Because all the shooting kinda gave me the wrong impression!" she yelled sarcastically. Never leaving him out of her sight. Locking her stormy eyes with his cold golden ones.

But the man, alien or whatever did not react to her. Instead, he simply inquired leisurely about something she had no idea about: "The energy core, where is it?"

What energy core was he talking about? Perhaps he had killed Lawson on a false assumption. That would mean that he would probably kill her as well once he figured that out. But she needed to stay alive. She had a mission to complete. She had lives to save. Carol gripped her gun hard. Her heart was racing, but her arms stayed calm.

"Pararescue's on the way. You have two minutes until you're surrounded." she bluffed, hoping that he would take the bait. But that had obviously the wrong thing to say.

**"**Then I see no reason to prolong this conversation," he told her in a bored tone bringing up his gun, pointing it towards her. _Kriff_! He had figured it out. He had not fallen for her ruse. She had to do something. Unless… The wheels in her brain were turning. What if Lawson's work was not in the brown bag that she had brought with her onto the plane. What if the Axis engine was the energy core that her enemy coveted? Well, she had to make sure that it would not fall into their hands. If she had understood Lawson correctly, then by preventing the alien from getting his gloved paws onto the core would save lives.

"No, wait." Carol countered quickly staring into his strange golden eyes. They gazed at each other for a few heartbeats. She had to do it. This would be the only way to save them and to save Lawson's legacy. She was standing too close to the engine to come out alive if she went through with it. But she did not see any other way. The man lowered his aim. Why would he do that? Was he playing with her? Goading her? Yet if she did not know it any better, she would say that seemed curious. Intrigued, perhaps? She had no idea. Carol dared not to blink.

Something was slowly running down her nose, but she ignored it, refused to be the first to break eye contact.

She nodded towards the Axis, her determined gaze never leaving his. "You mean that energy core?"

When he carefully diverted his gaze, towards the wreckage, Carol clenched her jaw and quickly turned her aim towards the blue engine before the other one could react and pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down again. Somewhere to her left, she could detect a desperate roar of disbelieve. She had done it! Immediately, the engine erupted into waves of blue and orange as a beam of untamed energy was racing towards her unprotected body. This was it. This was her end. She was going out with a bang. The only regret she had was that she could not say goodbye to her loved ones. Maria, Monica, and her little sister. She focused her last thoughts on the memories with them.

The waves of raw energy were racing towards her, engulfing her, yet she could not close her eyes. These were her last moments, as the agonizing heat was hitting her, engulfing her entire body. Carol heard fizzling, sizzling around her, as the anguished torment increased. She couldn't possibly take any more.

Suddenly, there was a dull sound, followed by an explosion, throwing her body backwards. Her anguish increased tenfold as the heat was rapidly crawling into her tissue, gnawing on her inner organs, cooking, burning her alive. She wanted it to end. To be finally over.

At the edge of her awareness, she felt her back hit the burning ground and knew no more. Peace at last.

* * *

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